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FRI: Federal judge rejects some parts of New Mexico campaign finance law, + More

Pete V. Domenici United States Courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque.
Allen S.
/
Wikimedia Commons
Pete V. Domenici United States Courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque.

Federal judge rejects some parts of New Mexico campaign finance law - Associated Press

Some parts of a New Mexico campaign finance law limiting the amount of money state political parties can give are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled.

Chief U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson issued an opinion Thursday on a lawsuit first filed 11 years ago by the Republican Party of New Mexico and other plaintiffs with GOP ties, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

The campaign finance regulations are part of the state's Campaign Reporting Act. State Republican officials including from Bernalillo County, Doña Ana County and GOP-leaning organizations challenged five of the set limits.

Johnson found three violated the First Amendment. They include an $11,000 limit on state parties' contributions to gubernatorial candidates or candidate committees and a $5,500 limit for all other candidates and county parties each election cycle.

The limits on candidate donations were lower compared to other states' limits and lower than limits upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Johnson.

In regards to contributions to county political parties, the judge ruled the state didn't show enough evidence proving there was a risk of a "quid pro quo corruption" or the appearance of it.

But the judge dismissed the suit's challenge to a $27,500 cutoff on contributions from individuals and entities to state political parties. He also left intact a $27,500 limit on contributions from national political parties to state political parties for federal elections.

A spokesperson for the Republican Party of New Mexico on Thursday told the newspaper the party's legal team is studying the decision.

Representatives at the state Attorney General's Office, which defended the state, immediately responded Thursday to the newspaper's requests seeking comment.

The campaign finance laws were enacted in 2009 in response to political corruption in the state. In the 87-page ruling, the judge recounted that scandalous history including a high-profile situation involving former Gov. Bill Richardson. The then Democratic governor was under federal investigation in 2008 for allegedly giving state contracts to campaign donors. The allegations led to him withdrawing from consideration as President Barack Obama's commerce secretary.

PNM reaches settlement agreement in San Juan rate credits case - By Hannah Grover, NM Political Report 

The Public Service Company of New Mexico announced on Friday that it reached a settlement agreement with state regulators and advocacy groups regarding rate credits associated with closing the San Juan Generating Station.

The agreement calls for PNM customers to receive $115 million in bill credits over a one-year period of time. This will result in an average credit of $9.28 per month for residential customers, which the utility says is about 11 percent of the average bill.

According to the press release, the customer credits come from PNM earnings. The customer rates will not be used to pay any part of the credit.

Customers must also be protected from increasing interest rates on the securitization bonds that PNM is using to refinance past investments in the coal-fired power plants.

The agreement is still pending approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.

The case is currently in the New Mexico Supreme Court and the court will likely remand it to the PRC to allow state regulators to consider the agreement.

“We came together to demand PNM return windfall profits that it has collected at the expense of New Mexicans,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, said in a statement. “The savings that come from the transition to clean energy must be passed on to customers. Today’s agreement shows that when advocates for the people of New Mexico work together, we can achieve just outcomes that protect ratepayers.”

The various parties to the settlement include the PRC’s utility division staff, PNM, the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, Western Resource Advocates, New Energy Economy, New Mexico Affordable Reliable Energy Alliance, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy.

“We have been working towards this transition for many years and appreciate the collaborative effort from parties to reach a unanimous settlement to complete the final steps,” PNM CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn said in the press release. “As the solar and battery storage replacement power resources also begin to come online, we are seeing the full scope of the Energy Transition Act’s benefits for our customers, the environment, employees and the communities impacted by the plant’s closure.”

NM Reps to put $34 million in earmarks around their districts next year - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico

New Mexico’s representatives are poised to give more than $34 million directly to projects in and around their districts as part of next year’s budgets for federal agencies.

But the funds will not be disbursed until Congress passes the budget, which faces hurdles as members of the far-right Freedom Caucus have threatened a government shutdown.

Congress must pass 12 bills with the budgets of federal agencies by the deadline of Sept. 30, for the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Currently out of session, lawmakers would just have 12 days to pass legislation before the deadline.

There is a stopgap measure, called a continuing resolution, which keeps agencies funded at the same level as last year, until a new budget can be passed. A continuing resolution which was floated by leadership Wednesday, NBC News reported.

As a part of next year’s budget, New Mexico’s representatives earmarked more than $34 million. Each representative was limited to 15 projects.

The appropriations committee, chaired by republican Rep. Kay Granger from Texas, released copies of 12 bills, including earmarks.

No New Mexico representatives are on the appropriations committee.

The States Newsroom DC Bureau reported that Republican House members have 62% of the earmarked fund – nearly $7.4 billion – while allocating about 38% to Democratic projects at just under $2.8 billion.

Republican members said, they are not short-changing Democratic requests, since that was the split used when Democrats held the majority in the House. Many Democratic earmark requests were capped at $1 million and cut by 41% on average, while Republican earmark request cuts averaged around 18% with a $6 million cap, said Rep. David Trone (D-Md) in a committee debate in June.

This is the third year Congress is allowing for direct spending in districts, after a decades-long hiatus. Earmarks were banned in 2011 when House Speaker John Boehner eliminated the practice after years of scandals.

In 2021, earmarks were revived by House Democrats, with additional guardrails and rules.

The process is now called Community Project Funding in the House and Congressionally Directed Spending in the Senate.

Lawmakers must submit letters saying there is no personal gain by themselves or a family member. Recipients of the funding cannot be for-profit entities, but instead by either governments or nonprofits.

In fiscal year 2022, New Mexico received more than $185 million for 103 projects from both chambers, a report from the U.S Government Accountability Office, as earmark spending totaled $9 billion.

If the budget is passed, federal agencies would reach out to projects within 30-60 days to administer funding. Based on which federal agency is funding the project, local entities may still have to pay a certain percentage of the project to qualify for the money.

Here’s where Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández plans to spend $11M in earmarks

Here’s where Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s earmarks will go in 2024

A look at Rep. Gabe Vasquez’s $10M in earmarks for 2024

NM Agriculture Department seeks public input on how to spend federal grant - By Nash Jones, KUNM News

The New Mexico Department of Agriculture is expecting to receive $4.6 million from a federal grant program and is looking to industry workers to help decide how to spend it.

The department, in collaboration with the Governor’s Office and Economic Development Department, released a survey Thursday to suss out the top infrastructure priorities of those with “boots on the ground” in New Mexico agriculture.

Secretary Jeff Witte called the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant “a game changer” for the local food system.

The department said in a statement that the money is meant to bolster the middle of the food supply chain. That can include activities like processing, distribution and aggregation, according to USDA.

It also aims to expand local food markets and improve prices and wages, while helping to keep profits in rural communities.

Once the department has established its priorities, those contributing to the middle of the supply chain will be able to apply to the state for funding. The department says it anticipates posting the application next month.

The survey is due by Thursday, Aug. 24. The department is also hosting a virtual meeting on August 29, where attendees can give their input.

Charles Sallee promoted to new director of NM Legislative Finance Committee - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico

A panel of New Mexico lawmakers on Thursday morning voted unanimously to hire Charles Sallee to lead the agency that independently analyzes bills and advises lawmakers and state officials on the state government’s budget.

Sallee had been the Legislative Finance Committee’s deputy director since 2010, after five years as a program evaluator in the Roundhouse.

He was a policy analyst in the Texas legislature and before that, a social worker in Las Cruces.

After a public job interview and further discussion behind closed doors, the legislative committee did not set a salary for Sallee after approving his hire.

Lawmakers also did not mention any of the names of the three other finalists or the dozen other applicants interviewed for the job.

Committee chair Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup) said Sallee was the only person who scored high enough on the panel’s rubric to qualify for a public interview.

The process of finding a replacement for former Legislative Finance Committee director David Abbey started in April, Muñoz said.

Muñoz said the questions during the public interview were vetted by attorneys and management experts, and he did not allow any of the lawmakers on the committee to stray from the pre-approved inquiries.

Eight times during the public interview, Sallee talked about how his advice to lawmakers will have the goal of getting results, especially in the areas where the state spends the most, like education and health care.

“If we’re really disciplined as a state for implementing things that research suggests work — or at least being purposeful about developing things that might be New Mexico-specific — and evaluating to make sure that they’re working, to have new ideas come into the system,” Sallee said.

SPENDING TRANSPARENCY

Three lawmakers, two Democrats and one Republican, asked Sallee specifically about how he would make the state’s budget process more transparent.

Sallee said he wants to demystify the state budget by making it easier for the public to see where money is going.

“We do that internally with a lot of different tracking spreadsheets that we make available in our closed session review; I’m interested in figuring out how to make that information more interactive for the public to be able to use,” Sallee said.

But many New Mexicans have no reliable internet connection, Sallee said, so it will also take joining community organizations to get on the ground and hear about their needs and wants.

Sallee said LFC staff will help support lawmakers in any changes they want to make in order to hold more public hearings as they write the budget during sessions.

EARMARKED INCOMES

Sen. Pete Campos (D-Las Vegas) asked Sallee for his perspective on restricting certain sources of income for the state government for particular purposes, called “earmarking.”

Whenever oil and gas revenues going into the state’s coffers go down, Sallee said he will recommend lawmakers consider cutting earmarks, before raising any taxes.

“I see over the horizon that a conversation probably needs to be had about whether we need to move towards de-earmarking, in order to provide revenue diversity coming into the General Fund,” Sallee said.

Sallee said he is not suggesting any state programs relying on those revenues need to be cut, but rather they often can’t even use all of the money they are getting.

It would be difficult to cut any earmarks tied to federal requirements, like the ones going into the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Sallee said.

MONEY FOR NATIVE NATIONS

Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) said many tribes have found the process for receiving state money to be in conflict with their planning, available cash flow and capacity building, resulting in large amounts of unspent money.

He said the process is usually one-off, short-term and reimbursable. He asked how Sallee will ensure that state funding for Native nations will be more stable, sustainable and predictable.

Sallee said the backlog of money is caused by archaic administrative processes.

“There are areas of our state that have significant needs, that we need to figure out how to get over this hurdle, and help accomplish what those communities need and deserve,” Sallee said.

JUVENILE JUSTICE

Between 2000 and 2001, Sallee was also briefly the executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates in Las Cruces.

He said recent juvenile justice reforms by the state’s executive branch are an example of how when lawmakers invest in evidence-based community services, they can help divert young people “who are starting to get in trouble with following the rules in society from needing to be incarcerated.”

“I think that the work that I’ve done has helped achieve those types of outcomes, and I believe that the work going forward, if I’m selected, would be my main focus,” Sallee said. “I’m very results oriented, and how I advise you in my current role, and I would continue to strengthen that.”

New proposed bear and cougar hunting rules spark pushback - Bryce Dix, KUNM News

While the New Mexico Game and Fish Department looks to finalize a new set of rules meant to govern the hunting of bears and cougars for the next four years, animal protection groups are calling the proposed numbers unsustainable.

Currently, the agency wants to grant a total of 864 black bear and 563 cougar permits annually. That has groups like the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club alarmed.

The number of permits granted by New Mexico Game and Fish is based on surveys and population counts of species.

But, in a press release, Mary Katherine Ray of the Sierra Club said: “Obtaining an accurate population count of either black bears or cougars is very difficult.”

She claims repeat studies to examine population trends are lacking and there’s no evidence that current hunting levels are sustainable.

Big game like bears and cougars are usually hunted with the aid of highly trained radio-collared hounds.

The Game Commission is expected to vote on the rule on October 20. In order to weigh in, the public must provide written comments by August 23 to DGF-Bear-Cougar-Rules@state.nm.us.

Water managers warn that stretches of the Rio Grande will dry up without more rain - Associated Press

The ongoing lack of rain and hot conditions have left one of North America's longest rivers in dire shape again, prompting water managers on Thursday to warn farmers in central New Mexico who depend on the Rio Grande that supplies will be drying up in the coming weeks.

That means stretches of the river through the Albuquerque area are expected to go dry — much like last year.

Water managers and fish biologists at the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the Bureau of Reclamation say they're working to mitigate the effects on the endangered silvery minnow — a shimmery, pinky-sized native fish.

Water users in the Middle Rio Grande have been given notice to anticipate changes in availability and delivery schedules soon.

Due to a higher-than-normal irrigation demand and lower than expected natural river flow, the conservancy district began releasing water on July 17 from the San Juan-Chama Project, which brings water from the Colorado River Basin into the Rio Grande Basin via a system of diversion dams, tunnels, channels and other infrastructure. About 40% of the current irrigation supply is from project storage releases, with the rest from natural river flow.

Irrigation district officials expect water from the project to run out before Aug. 23, leaving them to rely solely on natural flows to continue making water deliveries through the fall.

"The lack of rainfall is difficult on its own, coupled with the challenges of not being able to store water for summer releases, is disheartening, but we are doing our best to work with water users in the middle Rio Grande Valley to deliver what is available," Jason Casuga, the irrigation district's chief executive, said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation will release water to supplement flows in cooperation with the irrigation district and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to target specific areas of the river with known silvery minnow habitat and to manage the rate of anticipated river drying.

The Rio Grande went dry in Albuquerque for the first time in four decades in August 2022 due to persistent drought.

Over the past 20 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has leased about 700,000 acre-feet — or 228 billion gallons — of water to supplement flows through the Middle Rio Grande for endangered and threatened species.

The silvery minnow has been listed as endangered since 1994. It inhabits only about 7% of its historic range and has withstood a century of habitat loss as the nearly 1,900 mile-long (3,058-kilometer) river was dammed, diverted and channeled from Colorado to New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico.

Heinrich urges FDA to get tribal input on at-home opioid disposal policy - Nash Jones, KUNM News

As the Food and Drug Administration finalizes a policy for disposing of left-over prescription opioids at home as a means of combating the national epidemic, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich is urging the agency to better meet the needs of New Mexico’s tribal and rural communities.

The proposal would have residents get rid of unused pills through the mail using prepaid envelopes. Heinrich, along with fellow Democratic Senators John Tester of Montana and Patty Murray of Washington, in a letter to the FDA Thursday pointed out that their rural constituents don’t always have reliable mail service.

The lawmakers wrote that “any policy that focuses solely on mail-only disposal creates an undue burden for those individuals to safely remove opioids from their homes.”

To better the policy, the Senators recommended that the administration engage in meaningful tribal consultation and hold discussions with rural residents that lack consistent mail pick-up, along with USPS employees. They asked that the FDA incorporate any feedback into the policy before finalizing it.

Bosque Chile Fest heats up EXPO New Mexico this weekend - Nash Jones, KUNM News

It’s been a hot summer and Expo New Mexico is set to get even hotter this weekend as Bernalillo County holds its Bosque Chile Fest in the venue’s Villa Hispana on Saturday and Sunday.

New Mexicans can get creative with what they put chile in, and the county says that variety will be on full display with vendors selling chile-infused honey and olive oil, chile-rimmed cocktails and chocolate chip chile cookies.

The new official state aroma will also be in the air as Chile Konnections and Señior Torta host chile roasting demonstrations.

The festival will also feature chile crafts, including candles, ristras and chalk art, along with live local music.

The event runs from 3-to-8 p.m. Saturday and 11-to-5 on Sunday. Tickets must be purchased online.

Feds raise concerns about long call center wait times as millions dropped from Medicaid - By David A. Lieb Associated Press

As millions of Medicaid recipients face the potential loss of health coverage for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, state call centers are getting inundated with questions from people needing help. In some cases, federal officials say, it's taking too long to get answers.

Nearly one-third of the states have received warnings from federal Medicaid officials that their lengthy call center wait times may be causing people to hang up — and give up — as they attempt to renew Medicaid coverage amid a massive nationwide effort to clean up the rolls of the government health insurance program for lower-income residents.

Some advocates have offered to function like placeholders in a long line for concert or sports tickets — waiting on hold so Medicaid recipients can do other things.

"If you call a call center and you have a sort of significant wait, you oftentimes are neglecting your work duties, you're neglecting needs of your family, otherwise growing impatient," said Matt Slonaker, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project, a nonprofit that assists Medicaid recipients. "What we've seen anecdotally over and over again is people giving up."

Utah had an average call center wait time of 35 minutes in May, with one in four callers simply hanging up, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

According to the most recent CMS data, the longest wait time was in Missouri, at 48 minutes, though state officials say that figure is misleading. In Nevada, more than half the callers abandoned their calls.

States typically conduct annual eligibility reviews. But they are now dealing with a backlog of cases because the federal government prohibited states from removing people from Medicaid during the coronavirus pandemic — a roughly three-year moratorium that ended in April.

During that time, Medicaid enrollment swelled by nearly one-third, from 71 million people in February 2020 to 94 million in April 2023.

Since then, well over 4 million people have lost Medicaid coverage during the mandatory renewal process. Most of those people were dropped for what CMS describes as procedural reasons, such as failing to return renewal forms.

In letters sent last week to state Medicaid agencies, CMS raised concerns that long call center wait times and high abandonment rates "are impeding equitable access to assistance and the ability for people to apply for or renew Medicaid" and may run afoul of federal requirements. Similar warnings were sent to 16 states — Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah.

Among those 16 states, the average call center wait time was 25 minutes and the average hang-up rate was 29%. That's significantly higher than the rest of the states, where the average call wait was less than 3 minutes and the average hang-up rate was less than 6%.

Though many states added staff or contractors to help handle the surge in eligibility determinations, some state Medicaid officials acknowledged difficulty in keeping up with the calls.

"For sure it has been a challenge," said Dave Baden, interim director of the Oregon Health Authority. "With the amount of humanity we're going through, there's no way we could have hired up so many people to be ready for all of that."

In some states, the same staff who make Medicaid eligibility determinations also are responsible for fielding phone calls.

"It is a tradeoff. We can't process applications as fast if we put more people on the phones," said Jeanne Lambrew, commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Utah has faced a similar balancing act in splitting staff time between answering phones and processing Medicaid renewals, said Nate Checketts, deputy director of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Within a few months, he said, the department hopes to have improved its computer capabilities to automatically renew some people based on data compiled for other social services programs such as food assistance.

"That will help cut down on the number of individuals that need to call us to try to clarify information on their forms," Checketts said.

Missouri's nationally high May call center wait time of 48 minutes was based on data from a general call center, said state Department of Social Services spokesperson Caitlin Whaley. Revised data from four call centers that take Medicaid calls show an average wait time of 28 minutes in May, she said.

But Missouri has taken several steps since to drive down wait times, including having whoever answers the phone address all of a caller's needs instead of potentially transferring the caller to multiple people, Whaley said. The department also has adopted "a blitz strategy" when many phones are ringing.

"During times of high call volume, it's like an all-hands-on-deck," she said, adding, "workers and supervisors both are answering calls to try and help more people and get those wait times down."