Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

Scott Taylor said he was blocked from building an eye clinic in Artesia, despite months of site work, by a state regulation requiring new homes and buildings be outfitted with a power supply to charge electric vehicles.

Taylor, founder and president of Permian Construction, said the company Eye Site planned to relocate from its location on Main Street to a bigger building on 26th Street.

But when Taylor applied for the building permit to begin work on the business, he was notified by the city of Artesia that his permit application did not contain any plans to conform to the amended building codes and could not be approved.

Aside from his construction business, Scott serves on the Artesia Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, heads up the MainStreet Board and was involved in additions to the Eddy County Fairgrounds and the local recreation center.

“I think it will slow down a lot of building. I think a lot of people will say this is a bridge too far,” Taylor said.

Complying with the new rules could add up to $800,000 to the estimated $30 million construction cost of the recreation center being built on a lot south of the Artesia Aquatic Center near Bowman Drive and JJ Clark Drive, Taylor said.

The $800,000 is a “holding cost” added to the project’s budget, he said, as several aspects of the new rules are reviewed.

“We’re hoping that’s high,” Taylor said of the holding cost. He said the center would include 230 parking spots, more than the code-required 100 spots, and that the new rules requiring up to 5 percent of new parking be outfitted with electric vehicle chargers would mean 36 spots would have to be EV ready when the center is completed.

Taylor said it was unclear what level of chargers were required, thus unclear what the exact increase would be.

“I would describe it as a complete waste of money,” he said. Taylor said there are no more than “two or three” EVs in use in Artesia, and that they are impractical for rural communities where motorists regularly drive hundreds of miles for basic services.

“You’re requiring all of this when the EVs don’t exist, and they won’t exist in rural areas,” he said.

City, county leaders oppose rules

Artesia City Councilors voted unanimously Aug. 13 to oppose the regulations, followed by a similar vote from the Carlsbad City Council Aug. 27.

Officials from both cities said the resolutions did not impact policy but said they hoped lawmakers would amend the new rules. The resolutions were intended to call for such action in the Legislature.

Similar resolutions were passed by the Hobbs City Commission on Aug. 5, by Eddy County commissioners on Aug. 17, and by the Lea County Commission on Aug. 22.

The updated building code was approved in January by the New Mexico Construction Industries Division (CID) and took effect July 30.

The CID is a division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department (NMRLD), a cabinet agency within the state’s administration tasked with regulating building codes and permitting. The head of the department is Superintendent Clay Bailey, who was appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The rules stipulated that commercial buildings have EV chargers in 1-5 percent of available parking spaces, based on the kind of business. New homes must also be equipped with electrical outlets adequate to support EV charging.

Residential buildings were required to have a 50-amp circuit breaker installed and connected to an electrical outlet with a 6-gauge wire capable of charging an EV.

“The newly implemented codes will not only ensure our state is constructing more energy efficient buildings but will provide necessary infrastructure to support evolving consumer choices,” said Bailey.

Governor calls for broader use of EVs

Rep. Jim Townsend (R-54) who represents parts of Eddy, Chaves and Otero counties, said lawmakers rejected the rules when they killed Senate Bill 77 during the 2023 legislative session.

That bill would have implemented the same regulations now put in place without input from the legislature, Townsend said.

An analysis by the Legislative Finance Committee on SB 77 published during the 2023 session found the rules would cost on average an extra $5,000 per home.

That’s an extra expense for something Townsend said few in southeast New Mexico want or need.

Townsend places the blame directly on the doorstep of the governor, who promoted Bailey from CID director to superintendent of the Regulation and Licensing Department in January – the same month the new rules were adopted.

“She (Lujan Grisham) continues to cram this down people’s throats,” Townsend said. They do not meet the needs of us in New Mexico. They tried to go around the fact that they could not pass the mandate.”

The policy followed a call during Lujan Grisham’s State of the State speech for her administration and lawmakers to support broader use of electric vehicles. The governor asked lawmakers to allocate $55 million to fund expanded electric vehicle charging availability in the state. The building codes were intended to ensure “the state will be ready as more and more people turn to EVs,” according to a CID new release.

“Local governments, including Carlsbad and Artesia, have raised concerns about costs, but these rules are essential for New Mexico’s long-term sustainability,” said Lujan Grisham spokesperson Jodi McGinnis Porter. “The cost of retrofitting buildings later to install EV infrastructure will be significantly higher than the current requirements.”

New Mexico Sen. David Gallegos (R-41), representing Eddy and Lea counties, said the rules are part of a pattern of Lujan Grisham’s administration circumventing lawmakers.

“If the governor doesn’t get what she wants, she just forces it by rules,” Gallegos said. “They’re trying to force the infrastructure and a situation that just doesn’t have a benefit.”

Gallegos said electric vehicles and chargers might be ideal in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and other urban areas, but he doubts they’ll ever catch on in rural areas such as the southeast corner of the state. He said residents in his district often drive hundreds of miles for medical care and other services, and to shop at big box stores.

“People down here aren’t going to want them because they can’t get the distance,” he said of electric vehicles. “It could take 20 years for the technology to be perfected. Why should we be mandating this? It presents more costs.”

Locals ask for ‘pushback’ from elected officials

Carlsbad contractor Trent Cornum said during the Aug. 27 council meeting that the EV requirements were the latest in a policy environment that makes New Mexico “hard and difficult to build in.”

He said the rules could stymie development in southeast New Mexico by increasing the costs of doing business.

Before the council voted, Carlsbad electrician Cory Bock, owner of Bock Electric, said the mandate could drive up the cost for a new house anywhere from 10 to 15 percent. That’s because wiring a house to be all electric-ready and support EV chargers means homeowners could be forced to buy more expensive electric service.

“We talk about houses being too expensive, and now we talk about every new house has to have EV chargers. It’s one of those mandates where I would like as much push back as we can from the city,” Cornum said.

Carlsbad Mayor Rick Lopez said he hoped the resolution would lead to a reversal of the rules, suggesting local lawmakers could help devise building codes that would be less costly.

“It’s hard enough to get workforce housing, affordable housing. When we have this price hike, it just makes it more difficult for us to grow,” he said. “The cost of living in Carlsbad is high at it is, we’re trying to find ways to make it more affordable, not increase costs.”

Meanwhile, Artesia City Councilor Wade Nelson said city officials must enforce the new codes. To openly defy and not enforce the state’s rules, he cautioned, could risk Artesia losing its license to inspect buildings, further restricting development in the city.

“If we don’t enforce it, the CID is going to strip our license,” he said. “We won’t be able to inspect anything, and the people will still have to pay for it. That doesn’t help the people.”

Nelson said people should be able to choose whether to install charging capacity at their home or building. He said the city was in discussions about how to address the issue, possibly negotiating amendments to the regulation alongside Carlsbad.

“I don’t like any mandates,” he said. “It’s not constitutional. I don’t think the government should be able to tell you you have to have one (EV). That’s not what government is about. It strips your freedoms.”

Townsend said the only remaining recourse was to sue. To do that, Townsend said, the plaintiffs would first need to prove parties had suffered due to the building codes, either monetarily or by time lost because projects were delayed by the new rules.

He said lawsuits would likely be brought against the CID and the state of New Mexico and could originate from a “consortium” of local governments including Carlsbad and Hobbs, and Eddy and Lea counties, among others that Townsend predicted would pass their own resolutions of opposition.

No such lawsuits had been filed in a New Mexico court as of press time, records show.

“The legislature already looked at it once, and said it wasn’t what they wanted to do,” Townsend said. “It’s not whether you support EVs, it’s looking at what a fair process is.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 734-972-6855, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.