Checks and Balances
- Paul Spencer, W.I.L.L. for Prosperity
- Dec 19, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 26, 2023
Local government is the most important level of government there is in communicating and addressing the safety, health and peace of each individual community. Local government entities today are currently made up of 5 elected board members from the communities of which they reside. They represent their local community and their constituents' concerns and needs through a representative republic form of government.
Senate Bill 1 is a form of re-governance of water, presented as a tool to address problems Community Public Water Systems (CPWS) are facing today in meeting managerial, secretarial, operational and financial capacity. New Mexico government and agencies are in joint efforts with the USA Environmental Protection Agency regionalization and consolidation of local community government's agenda . This is a World Economic Forum speaking point “ you will own nothing and be happy”
Senate Bill 1 claims to address solutions to the systemic failures of big government that have resulted in continuous overachieving unfunded mandates, policies and regulations.
Senate Bill 1 provides solutions through a transfer of ownership and transfer of responsibility government consolidation incentives. It appears there is a concerted organized effort to skip over regionalization collaboration workforce initiatives programs that would preserve community sovereignty and promote community autonomy.
SB 1 in New Mexico legislative session 2023 focuses its efforts on regionalization transfer of ownership transfer of responsibility in a government consolidation effort.
New Mexico rural communities would be best served by investing in a workforce regionalization collaboration program that would provide apprenticeship training and services to help CPWS rebuild managerial, secretarial, operational and financial capacity to keep up with the increasing regulatory policies that has outpaced matching investments by state and federal funding sources. This will provide skilled labor opportunities for many who are seeking meaningful job opportunities in a recessionary economic environment. This Regionalization collaboration programs workforce will ensure individual communities' ability to retain their sovereignty and autonomy.
2023 legislative session plan of action can be found here in this link: Regionalization plan of action 2023
History of government investing in public services infrastructure is a proven track record of failure to properly invest in the public’s best interest.
1972 Clean Water Act establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface water
1986 government decides subsidizing state revolving funds are not financially sustainable.
1996 Congress last broadly amended the law(P.L. 104-182) in response to criticism that the statute had too little flexibility, too many unfunded mandates, and an arduous but unfocused regulatory schedule.
Among the key provisions, the 1996 amendments authorized a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program to help public water systems finance improvements needed to comply with federal drinking water regulations and to address the most serious risks to human health. The law authorizes EPA to make grants to states each year to capitalize a state revolving loan fund. Each state must match 20% of its annual capitalization grant. States are authorized to use DWSRF funds to provide financial assistance (primarily subsidized loans) to eligible public water systems for expenditures that EPA has determined, through guidance, will facilitate SDWA compliance or significantly further the act’s health protection objectives.
The SDWA also includes several set-asides and directives that apply to the states. These provisions offer states flexibility in tailoring their individual DWSRF programs to address state priorities. They also demonstrate the emphasis that the 1996 amendments placed on enhancing compliance, especially among smaller systems. The act requires states to make available at least 15% of their annual allotment for loan assistance to systems that serve 10,000 or fewer persons to the extent that the funds can be obligated to eligible projects.
The act also allows states to use up to 30% of their DWSRF capitalization grants to provide additional assistance, such as forgiveness of loan principal or negative interest rate loans, to help disadvantaged communities (as determined by the state). Through appropriations acts, Congress has frequently required states to provide additional subsidization.
Among other set-aside provisions, Section 1452(g) authorizes states to reserve a portion of their annual capitalization grants to cover the costs of administering the DWSRF program. Congress increased the amount states may use for administration purposes in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN Act; P.L. 114-322), enacted on December 16, 2016.13
States may use an additional portion to help pay the costs of other SDWA mandates. Specifically,states may set aside as much as 10% for a combination of the following:
Public water system supervision programs (Section 1443(a)),
Technical assistance through source water protection programs,
State capacity development strategies (Section 1420(c)), and
Operator certification programs (Section 1419).
In the Legislation session 2023, Resiliency is touted as the only possible solution through regionalization, transfer of ownership and transfer of responsibility. SB1 will seek to consolidate stakeholders democratic republic form of representation by reducing 5 elected board members of a political subdivision to 1 elected board member leaving no one else from that local community to have or share overall responsibility of local governance or the local authority or powers of oversight and ability to govern or hold elected officials accountable.
We don’t just allow one person to move a 3 mile 572 ton train by themselves, we don’t allow just one pilot to fly a commercial passenger airplane. We don't allow any two emergency fire responders to rush into a burning house without having two other firefighters present and in a safe zone just in case of an emergency. Why would we seek to relinquish our autonomy and our sovereignty by surrendering 4 out 5 local board members who are currently serving in local government capacity to carry out the duties , powers and obligations as an elected official in a constitutionally recognized political subdivision to present to the state and federal governments the conditions and status of their local community and the wellbeing of their constituents welfare. Why would we as American citizens choose to surrender our rights to fair and equal representation by surrendering our ability to gather peacefully and hold meetings in each of our local communities as they are currently recognized in districts by law today 12-26-2023?
Checks and balances is what ensures our democracy, checks and balances is what protects our freedoms, checking in on your local CPWS, your local community government and speaking by the grace of our God and our God given rights along with what the constitution of the USA affords us.
Regulatory overreach has become more burdensome than we can tolerate without help that has already been established and provided through law that is not being followed today. When these new regulations came into existence they came with funding and enforcement through the law. These laws have been proven more detrimental to the health, safety and peace of the very same people it was created for ; for the purposes of protecting the people and ensuring their welfare and protecting their constitutional freedoms and rights.
These Government agencies and organizations won’t take your governing powers and authority away from you . You will give it to them freely because you can not afford not to. As of September 21 2021, NMED and New Mexico Drinking Water Bureau changed the rules without public participation. State Revolving Funds (SRFs) are now being reallocated to bigger communities when originally these SRFs’ funds were proposed by federal funding programs to be allocated to small communities with low population in Rural areas .
Take a look at article 4 subsection 24 of New Mexico's constitution . Article IV Subsection 24
Click on link below 👇 for more information
Paul Spencer 1/31/2023
505-287-0156
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