A Texas lawmaker says the state legislature should go big when considering how it could potentially annex part of New Mexico.
“You’ve got Roosevelt, Lea and Eddy County. I think we should [also] be looking at Curry County and Lincoln County too,” state Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock, told WFAA’s Inside Texas Politics. “Those are the counties where we seem to have the most economic, cultural and business symbiosis with.”
Those counties are also oil-rich and politically conservative in the southeastern part of New Mexico, including such cities as Ruidoso, Carlsbad, Hobbs.
The idea sounds like political theater but taking a closer look at the Texas – New Mexico boundary is among the dozens of interim charges that House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, last week asked lawmakers to look at before the legislature reconvenes in January.
Texas has not expanded its borders since the 1850s and there is no precedent for such an action anywhere in the country.
But Tepper said Texas lawmakers should consider enticing New Mexico to make it happen.
“You never know,” Tepper explained. “They’re poor and we’re rich.”
He suggested Texas might consider trying to purchase land from New Mexico.
“You never know what situation they might be in, and, everything seems to have a price in this world,” Tepper said. “Texas, you know, has the ability to extend its power beyond our borders and you never know if there’s a deal to be cut with New Mexico, and if there is, uh, look, we’re just the committee that’s been formed to look at this. I don’t think it’s an outlandish possibility.”
But New Mexico leaders dismissed it as partisan nonsense.
“Let me put this into terms Speaker Burrows might be able to understand: Come and try to take it,” said New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, in a statement.
Two Republican lawmakers who represent southeastern New Mexico proposed the idea to their legislature, but it never got a hearing.
If this were to somehow advance it would have to be approved by both the Texas and New Mexico legislatures along with the U.S. Congress.
The Texas House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight will produce recommendations or perhaps draft legislation later this year.
In his interview on Inside Texas Politics, Rep. Tepper also discussed how local governments in Texas might be forced to adapt to no longer having the U.S. penny in production, and whether the next legislature will add more money to school vouchers after immense interest during this spring’s initial application process.