Aug 13, 2026 · 33 min · 13 segments
Patrick M. Brenner is founder, president and CEO of the Southwest Public Policy Institute, a New Mexico-based public policy think tank with a stated mission to deliver data-driven research, advance…
Patrick BrennerGuest
Daniel ChacónHost
Well, what does the Institute do? I know I spoke a little bit about its mission, but what kind of work does the Institute do?
We at the Southwest Public Policy Institute craft original research related to a variety of topics.
Now, over the course of the Institute's lifespan so far, our body of work has matured and we generally focus on consumer finance issues to include interest rate caps on lending products to include bank charter applications and involvement with the fdic and um what else uh we've dabbled in now the national association of insurance commissioners which is the non-governmental regulatory body that regulates insurance product within the states through a non through a delegation principle that we believe is violative of the state constitutions um embedded in these constitutions are a prohibition on delegating authority that should have preempted the situation that we're experiencing today with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
But that original research, whether it's a study that analyzes raw data sets or whether it's by virtue of the institute or its members to include me or employees emulating the consumer experience, we emulate the experience, we conduct the research, we compile that research into what's called white papers, we publish the white papers, and then from those white papers, we draft op-eds, we conduct media interviews, we do media appearances.
I have testified in probably a dozen states at this point advocating for or against particular bills highlighting our experience.
And those groundbreaking studies that I mentioned using the consumer emulation model are what really gave us our start.
but do folks reach out to you and say hey you know uh patrick you should check do some research on on this particular topic
we we have um a number a large number of subscribers to our newsletter and i can't catch everything so when we have a subscriber suggest to me hey patrick there's this issue that is uh looking uh ripe for your engagement uh i can't help but start to engage
why is it the southwest uh public policy institute why not focus on just say new mexico
Because the work that we do within New Mexico is sort of, it's a micro laboratory, if you will.
And the work that we do at the Institute now has the capability of influencing national legislative battles.
And our voice is now carried across some of the most important bylines in the American political space.
And I think I may have mentioned this, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, It's not just restricted to just New Mexico, but in naming the Institute, I wanted to call attention to our founding location, which is my home here in New Mexico.
And based on your website, it looks like you might have offices in Arizona and elsewhere.
I was actually just in Austin earlier this week with my very good friend, Senator Craig Brandt from New Mexico, advocating for New Mexico policies that can better both our state, but then also hopefully we can export some good policies from New Mexico.
There are some, there are some good policies from New Mexico that we'd like to see exported.
And that was a really interesting engagement that Senator Brandt and I had while we were at this conference in Austin.
Well, what does the Institute do? I know I spoke a little bit about its mission, but what kind of work does the Institute do?
We at the Southwest Public Policy Institute craft original research related to a variety of topics.
Now, over the course of the Institute's lifespan so far, our body of work has matured and we generally focus on consumer finance issues to include interest rate caps on lending products to include bank charter applications and involvement with the fdic and um what else uh we've dabbled in now the national association of insurance commissioners which is the non-governmental regulatory body that regulates insurance product within the states through a non through a delegation principle that we believe is violative of the state constitutions um embedded in these constitutions are a prohibition on delegating authority that should have preempted the situation that we're experiencing today with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
But that original research, whether it's a study that analyzes raw data sets or whether it's by virtue of the institute or its members to include me or employees emulating the consumer experience, we emulate the experience, we conduct the research, we compile that research into what's called white papers, we publish the white papers, and then from those white papers, we draft op-eds, we conduct media interviews, we do media appearances.
I have testified in probably a dozen states at this point advocating for or against particular bills highlighting our experience.
And those groundbreaking studies that I mentioned using the consumer emulation model are what really gave us our start.
but do folks reach out to you and say hey you know uh patrick you should check do some research on on this particular topic
we we have um a number a large number of subscribers to our newsletter and i can't catch everything so when we have a subscriber suggest to me hey patrick there's this issue that is uh looking uh ripe for your engagement uh i can't help but start to engage
why is it the southwest uh public policy institute why not focus on just say new mexico
Because the work that we do within New Mexico is sort of, it's a micro laboratory, if you will.
And the work that we do at the Institute now has the capability of influencing national legislative battles.
And our voice is now carried across some of the most important bylines in the American political space.
And I think I may have mentioned this, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, It's not just restricted to just New Mexico, but in naming the Institute, I wanted to call attention to our founding location, which is my home here in New Mexico.
And based on your website, it looks like you might have offices in Arizona and elsewhere.
I was actually just in Austin earlier this week with my very good friend, Senator Craig Brandt from New Mexico, advocating for New Mexico policies that can better both our state, but then also hopefully we can export some good policies from New Mexico.
There are some, there are some good policies from New Mexico that we'd like to see exported.
And that was a really interesting engagement that Senator Brandt and I had while we were at this conference in Austin.
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