SANTA FE - The first session of the 54th New Mexico Legislature closed Saturday, leaving lawmakers representing Lea County voters both pragmatic and disappointed. Largely due to the booming oil and gas industry, the 2019 session started with a record budget surplus, a projected billion-dollar surplus for this year, and more than a billion dollars anticipated above this year´s for next year. Just two years ago, the state faced a budget crisis and Rep. David Gallegos, R-Eunice, hopes oil prices don´t take a drop in the next two years. `The money´s gone to education, which we really need, but it was too fast, too far, too soon,` Gallegos said. `If oil were to drop in the next two years, we´ll...
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