New Mexico to impose new federal food aid document requirements to reduce error - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Health Care Authority will soon impose additional requirements on federal food assistance recipients, part of an effort to bring down the state’s high rate of errors and thereby avoid huge financial penalties established in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Beginning May 1, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients will be required to provide documentation regarding costs for housing, utilities and dependents to receive SNAP benefits. Those costs factor into how much in monthly food benefits recipients receive.
In addition to ensuring that recipients receive the correct benefit amount, according to a Thursday announcement from the HCA, implementing more documentation requirements will bring down the state’s high rate of SNAP administration errors.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” President Donald Trump signed last year threatens stiff penalties for states with high rates of SNAP over- or underpayment to recipients. New Mexico’s error rate is 14.6%, according to recent estimates from the federal Agriculture Department, which is among the nation’s highest.
If the state does not bring down its error rate significantly, it could be required to pay for a portion of the total SNAP benefits it receives from the federal government, which otherwise fully funds SNAP benefits. Failure to bring the rate below 6% could mean New Mexico is required to come up with $153 million.
New Mexico has the nation’s highest SNAP participation rate. More than one in five New Mexicans receive federal food assistance.
Tim Fowler, an HCA spokesperson, told Source NM in an email Friday that the HCA does not have an estimate of how much the new documentation requirements will bring down the error rate.
“However, this is key to ensuring accurate case determination, which will improve our overall accuracy rates,” he said. “Our team will regularly assess how this new process improves compliance levels.”
State officials have previously attributed the state’s high rate of miscalculations to staffing and technological issues. The state also waived multiple documentation requirements at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which officials said resulted in more errors.
New documentation requirements include rental or mortgage statements, utility bills or letters from childcare providers showing monthly costs. The authority will also accept sworn statements in certain circumstances, and the HCA officials said caseworkers can assist households in obtaining the required records.
“When families provide complete information about their expenses, we can make sure their benefit amount is calculated correctly,” said Acting HCA Deputy Secretary Niki Kozlowski in a statement. “Without verification, those expenses may not be counted, which could result in lower SNAP benefits than a family actually qualifies for.”
Authority officials noted that the new requirement won’t immediately disrupt benefits for current SNAP recipients. Beginning next month, SNAP recipients will be asked to provide the records the next time they renew their benefits, according to the HCA.
“Our priority is to provide benefits to eligible New Mexicans,” Fowler said, “as we continue evaluating the fiscal and operational effects of this change.”
Las Cruces mulls steep budget cuts to rein in spending - Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
City officials will contemplate a more austere budget for the next fiscal year after the city’s finance director advised them that spending is on an unsustainable course.
Lesley Doyle, who has been in the job just over a year, outlined options for shaving spending by as much as $15.8 million in a combination of operating cuts and closing current job openings.
Doyle also presented a timeline showing that Las Cruces’ annual general fund expenditures have outpaced revenue since the 2023-24 budget year, driven mainly by wages, insurance, retirement and other personnel costs, which account for 72% of the proposed budget.
Under the current draft, general fund spending would be $180.7 million — nearly an 8% increase from last year. Doyle said that includes $130.3 million in personnel costs and $50 million in operating costs.
What began as a $6 million gap between money coming and money going out in fiscal year 2024 trended sharply upward, according to modeling Doyle presented to the City Council, with the city proposing to spend $15.3 million more from the general fund than it would take in under the proposed budget.
The result is a cycle of spending down general fund balances rather than building them up. By her projection, the city could begin the 2028 fiscal year with a $32.2 million balance and end with $14.6 million. Doyle said those balances could be used up as soon as the 2029 fiscal year, putting pressure on mandatory reserves, without a course correction.
“We would have nothing to budget in subsequent years because we would have completely utilized all of our fund balance,” Doyle said.
The city tightened its belt in the middle of the current fiscal year, as well, after Doyle discovered an error that had caused the city to overstate its general fund balance.
Doyle said city departments had been asked to bring their budgets back to fiscal year 2025 levels to help hold down operating and capital expenses. The city had also made progress on reducing debt service and other strains on the general fund and reviewing funds across the budget.
“We looked under every rock to find any available funding that we could utilize and bring back to the general fund,” Doyle said.
Nonetheless, she said the budget brought to council for approval in May will include 2% wage increases as planned.
Although there were no formal votes taken at the work session, the councilors directed Doyle to proceed with the most conservative option, comprising $7.8 million saved through eliminating vacant positions and $8 million through operating cuts.
The City Council’s newest members weighed in, with Councilor Michael Harris suggesting looking at budgeted vehicle purchases for less expensive options and Councilor John Muñoz recommending a review of costs for overtime. Both took office in January.
“We got here because we made a serious investment in our greatest asset, which is our people,” Councilor Johana Bencomo said. Like colleague Becky Corran, Bencomo said she had no regrets about supporting wage increases and a decision by the city to absorb part of increased insurance costs to protect employees’ take-home pay.
Mayor Eric Enriquez recommended departments review solutions found during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-23, a time when he served as assistant city manager. Enriquez said the crisis forced the city to focus hard on “how we were going to conduct business and what was vital to the community, what was absolutely needed and what wasn’t.”
“I think we need to go back and review some of those things as an organization,” the mayor said.
Federal regulatory staff protest proposed New Mexico pipeline for data center - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Federal regulatory staff last week filed a protest to a proposed pipeline to fuel the Project Jupiter data center in southern New Mexico, likely delaying its construction.
In a Jan. 29 application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Dallas-based developer Energy Transfer — which owns Transwestern Pipeline Company — sought expedited approval for a 17-mile pipeline crossing federal, private and state trust lands. The $60-million “Green Chile Project” would pipe 400,000 dekatherms of gas from El Paso daily to the private power plants fueling the proposed data center Project Jupiter. In federal filings, the Texas company requested approval for construction to start on April 15 in order to complete the project by August.
The project already faced potential roadblocks when the New Mexico State Land Office denied the rights for construction on state trust land. Several New Mexico environmental groups last week also filed a formal challenge with the FERC.
The April 13 FERC staff protest, signed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese, noted that the developers’ application was incomplete.
Specifically, the company failed to provide confirmation from the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office that no “historic properties” would be affected, documentation required under FERC’s regulations and the National Historic Preservation Act.
“Without this documentation, the environmental concerns cannot be adequately addressed before the end of the protest period,” the document reads.
The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division received a request to review the project on April 14, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs Director of Communications and Marketing Daniel Zillmann told Source NM Friday. The state office has 30 days to review project submissions for any historical sites, he said.
Celeste Miller, acting director for media relations at FERC, said in a statement provided to Source NM that if Transwestern Pipeline Company cannot resolve the issues raised in the protests within 30 days, the project will not be eligible for the expedited “blanket certificate.”
Instead, she said, it would have to undergo the process for a “project-specific certificate,” which according to FERC rules, requires more detailed flings and public notice to receive approval.
Energy Transfer Vice President for Corporate Communications Vicki Granado did not provide responses to Source NM’s written questions about how the FERC agency protest would impact the timeline, telling Source NM in a statement that, “we continue to work with FERC so all necessary requirements are met as we move through this process.”
In addition to the protest filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and Food & Water Watch, another group representing Doña Ana residents sought to intervene on the project: Hold the Line Campaign, which organizes against several proposed oil and gas pipelines in New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. Jon Copeland, a community organizer in El Paso for the group, told Source NM that FERC’s staff protest was “nearly unheard of.”
“FERC’s protest is a first step, but it’s not justice,” Copeland told Source NM in a call. “We need real accountability for the people and the land this pipeline will destroy.”
Supreme Court won't intervene in Otero County ICE detentions - Algernon d’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Supreme Court declined to intervene in a dispute over Otero County’s new service agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which means the use of a county-owned facility in Chaparral for federal immigration detention will continue for now.
State Attorney General Raúl Torrez sought an order invalidating the service agreement and placing an emergency stay on enforcing it while his office pursues civil litigation. Torrez claims the county did not have legal authority to enter into the agreement and did not obtain a required approval from the state Department of Finance and Administration.
The order on Thursday, joined by all five Supreme Court justices, declined Torrez’s petition without explanation.
“The Supreme Court did exactly what courts are supposed to do — apply the law as written without regard to political pressure,” Otero County Commission Chair Vickie Marquardt said in a written statement.
County commissioners initially approved their new agreement with ICE in an emergency session in March, convened with just a few hours’ notice, leading critics — including Torrez — to argue the meeting and any actions taken were void. Commissioners redid the vote in a properly noticed regular meeting.
The five-year contract provides facilities for holding immigration detainees in ICE custody at the Otero County Processing Center, which is operated for ICE by private contractor Management and Training Corp.
The previous contract extension expired last month and some lawmakers viewed the new agreement as an evasion of a recently enacted state law barring public bodies, including Otero County, from participating in federal immigration detentions.
The law, which takes effect next month, required that any service agreements affected by the law be terminated as soon as possible. Otero County’s new agreement with ICE does not permit the county to withdraw from the agreement.
The county maintained that without the partnership with ICE, it would default on revenue bonds used to build the facility and risk the loss of 284 jobs.
In a written statement, County Attorney R.B. Nichols said the county’s arguments “were grounded in the plain text of New Mexico law, 18 years of uninterrupted state acquiescence, and the federal government’s exclusive authority over immigration detention.”
Torrez accepted the court’s decision and vowed to “monitor the situation to ensure compliance with the new law that becomes effective in just a few weeks.” He continued: “The Legislature has made its intention clear that these kinds of contracts should be eliminated and that they do not benefit the people of New Mexico.”
UNM announces five finalists for president - Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
The University of New Mexico announced the five finalists to be its next president following a national search. The new president will start before the beginning of next school year and will replace President Garnett Stokes, who will retire after eight years in July.
The finalists are:
- Eric L. Barker, vice president for health affairs at Purdue University
- Dr. Steven Goldstein, vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of California, Irvine
- Eric Link, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Dakota
- Ashwani Monga, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, University System of Georgia
- Elizabeth “Liz” Watkins, provost and executive vice chancellor, University of California, Riverside
The candidates have a range of experience leading health sciences programs and large state universities.
Barker has spent the last 28 years at Purdue working in leadership and as a professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, UNM officials said. He was responsible for overseeing all health and life science programs at the university in Indiana, said a 2024 news release.
Barker was a finalist for provost at the University of Arizona in March 2025. At a forum for candidates at the Tucson campus, he spoke of a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion amid a rapidly changing federal landscape.
Goldstein has led the College of Health Sciences at UC Irvine in California since 2019. He holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to a university news release.
At UCI, Goldstein oversaw the creation and growth of various health sciences programs. UNM has similar expansions planned — the university intends to double the size of its medical school in the coming years.
Link — a two-time Fulbright scholar — has a background in literature and has served as provost at UND in Grand Forks, North Dakota, since 2021. He came to North Dakota from the University of Houston-Downtown, where he served as provost. Link is the author of four books.
Monga leads academic affairs for 26 public universities at the University System of Georgia, where he led efforts to improve career-ready competencies. He is a tenured marketing professor at Georgia Tech and served for one year as the interim president at the University of West Georgia.
Watkins has a background in health education — she held leadership roles at the University of California, San Francisco, the UC system’s health sciences campus, before becoming provost at UC Riverside, a Hispanic-serving institution. Watkins has authored multiple books on the histories of birth control and hormone replacement therapies.
The finalists will visit campus in the coming weeks for open forums with students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members in Ballroom C of the Student Union Building.
The Board of Regents will make a final decision after the campus visits are complete, according to UNM spokesperson Ben Cloutier.