Legislative Finance Committee

The Legislative Finance Committee held its first interim meeting this week and appointed Charles Sallee as interim director. The committee is extending its search for a permanent director.

As a top oil and gas producer, New Mexico has some of the strictest emissions rules in the country. That includes a state Environment Department rule that went into effect last year that aims to reduce ozone-causing air pollution by 260 million pounds a year. However, Environment Secretary James Kenney says the agency is falling short on enforcing the rules and is asking the Legislature to help change that.

Recently the Legislative Finance Committee met to review the progress of spending New Mexico’s share of federal pandemic aid. There are a lot of projects either on-going or in the planning stages and lawmakers want to make sure those projects get funded before access to those federal dollars expires.

The New Mexico Department of Health is requesting an 11% bump in state dollars as federal funding for the department shrinks following boosts during the pandemic. The proposal highlights the DOH’s priority of addressing staffing shortages.

The state's Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, or EMNRD, met with lawmakers at the roundhouse Thursday to ask for a budget increase that…

New Mexico’s Law Office of the Public Defender is seeking more funding, but not just for more lawyers. They want to hire more social workers, too. New…

Let’s Talk New Mexico 1/21 8am: Last week, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham released her list of top legislative priorities for the year. The Governor and…

The New Mexico Department of Health has missed its mark for early childhood health services and needs to create a whole new strategy to improve health…

Horrifying and fatal cases of child abuse and neglect are pervasive in New Mexico. People here are asking the question: How do we stop this? Nationally,…

The state spent almost half its 2015 child behavioral health dollars on expensive outpatient programs that have not been shown to be effective, according…