Although the New Mexico legislative session doesn\’t begin until January 2024, lawmakers and legislative staff will work throughout the summer at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe and at locations across the state to study and establish programs for the state moving forward.
Below are some of the objectives outlined in the Finance Legislative Committees Provisional staff work plans 2023, organized by major political sectors. You can find more details in the link on the issues and the state agencies involved, the timelines and the expected results.
Also below are tentative times and locations for the first meetings of the interim committees tasked with digging into state government details ahead of next year\’s session. You can find more detailed information about Interim Committee calendar 2023. Unless specified, all meetings will be held in the state capital in Santa Fe.
Economy
The New Mexico Financial Authority\’s oversight committee will hold its organizational meeting at 9:00 a.m. on May 31 in room 307.
The Supervisory Committee on Investments and Pensions will hold its organizational meeting on 2 June at 10 in Room 321.
The Committee for revenue stabilization and tax policies will hold its organizational meeting on 8 June at 10 am, in Room 322.
The Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee will hold its organizational meeting at 1:30 pm on June 12 in room 309.
The Committee on Economic and Rural Development and Policy will hold its organizational meeting at 1:00 pm on June 21 at the state capital, hall to be announced.
The Legislative Committee on Finance will meet June 27-29 in Las Cruces, location to be announced.
The Mortgage Finance Authority\’s oversight committee will meet July 7 in Albuquerque, a location to be announced.
Some of the goals for legislative staff in mid-term meetings include:
- Create a consolidated inventory of state food safety programs.
- Improve the labor force participation rate.
- Monitor minimum wage increases and Paid Family Medical Leave program.
- Determine whether the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund can break even by no longer accounting for higher unemployment rates since the start of the pandemic.
- Track spending, college enrollments, and projected labor shortages in nursing, teaching, and social work.
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Education
The State School Capital Expenditure Supervision Task Force held its organizational meeting on May 26.
The Legislative Education Study Committee will meet June 28-30 in Taos.
Some of the goals for this legislative staff in the interim include:
- Evaluate teacher leadership initiatives and professional working hours, evaluate the effectiveness of teacher pipeline initiatives, analyze statewide staffing levels, compare salary and benefits competitiveness with neighboring states.
- Monitor the distribution of grant funds and research grant spending.
- Monitor enrollments, expenses and implementation of kindergarten.
- Evaluate changes in school funding, calendars, and teaching hours.
- Evaluate student and family engagement, attendance, social-emotional learning, behavioral health, and extracurricular programs.
- Remove data collection and report bottlenecks, track public school spending on learning loss, track school fund reserves, and track funding for tribal education departments and tribal libraries.
- Establish school reporting requirements, hold schools accountable for improving outcomes.
- Monitor student retention and graduation rates, compare student performance and identify student support services, monitor diploma and certificate production, evaluate the impact of leadership turnover on student outcomes.
- Monitor spending on new STEM Graduate Student Scholarship Program, develop best practices for STEM education.
- Develop spending recommendations and track student success in dual-credit and career and technical education programs.
- Determine annual opportunity scholarship cost and monitor work-study program spending.
Environment and climate change
The Science, Technology and Telecommunications Commission will hold its organizational meeting on June 6 at 10 am in Room 307.
The Water and Natural Resources Committee will hold its organizational meeting at 9:30 on June 13, room to be determined.
The Committee on Radioactive and Hazardous Materials will hold its organizational meeting on June 15 at 10 am in Room 326.
Some of the goals for legislative staff in the meantime include:
- Monitors the Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources\’ (EMNRD) Orphan Oil and Gas Replenishment Program by tracking federal money received, agency spending plans, and program performance.
- Monitor $100 million awarded to the Department of Finance and Administration to provide zero-interest loans to political subdivisions in the state to replace or repair infrastructure damaged by fire, flood or debris flow caused by the Hermits Peak Canyon Fire- Calf.
- Monitor the Department of the Environment\’s Water Conservation Division funding for contract engineers, reduction of the vacancy rate, cleanup of contaminated groundwater, development of a surface water discharge permit program, and regionalization of small water systems.
- Create better performance measures for the State Engineer\’s Office.
Police and prison
On 5 June, at 9:30, in the Chamber of the Chamber, the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee will hold its organizational meeting.
Some of the goals for legislative staff in the meantime include:
- Improve access to substance use disorder services and behavioral health services for the incarcerated, homeless and Native Americans.
- Monitor the newly created Family Advocacy and Representation Office.
- Determine whether savings from population decline in juvenile justice facilities could be reinvested in evidence-based community programs.
- Develop legislation to reduce incarceration for parole and technical probation violations, monitor transitional housing, and develop improved performance measures for the Corrections Department and Parole Board.
- Develop better performance measures for the new prison departments re-entry program.
- Look for ways to centralize and integrate the criminal justice health care and behavioral health care systems and consider a different and more cost-effective structure of health care delivery in New Mexico prisons and jails.
- Monitor the implementation of the new Police Certification Board to avoid limitations of the current Law Enforcement Academy Board, new training requirements, and new Police Misconduct Database.
- With most of your court costs set to go in the next tax year, estimate the true costs of businesses funded by those taxes so they can be funded from other sources.
- Monitor police recruitment and mandate enforcement spend to ensure they are having the intended impact.
Health
The Legislative Committee on Health and Human Services will hold its organizational meeting on June 12 at 10 am in Room 322.
The Tobacco Settlement Revenue Oversight Committee will hold its organizational meeting at 10:00 am on June 14 in room 305.
Some of the goals for legislative staff in the meantime include:
- Improve access to primary care, behavioral health, and maternal and child health throughout New Mexico.
- Equalize access to public school capital expenditure funds, monitor costs; study the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems of schools, track expenses for safety, CTE, nursery and maintenance.
- Analyze Medicaid enrollment, settlement projections, and funding as people are pushed out of beneficiary rolls as COVID ends, and adjust budget recommendations
- Ensure affordable health insurance coverage for New Mexicans by determining funding needs from your health care affordability fund and other sources of income.
- Expand services under New Mexico\’s Medicaid Home and Community Waiver.
- Monitor the expansion of Medicaid\’s matched home visit program and offer policy options to expand it faster.
- Improve transparency about Medicaid managed care organization pay rates, fines, penalties, recoveries and purchases.
- It combines computer systems used by the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, CYFD and the Department of Aged and Long Care Services.
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