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THE NEW MEXICAN Tuesday, January 20, 2015
2015 Legislature Panel challenges Health Department’s $6.4M request Proposed amount well exceeds governor’s $1M By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
When leaders from the New Mexico Department of Health asked lawmakers Monday for an extra $6.4 million, they received a stern rebuke instead. Members of the Legislative Finance Committee questioned the department’s spending and suggested that perhaps state-run nursing homes and treatment centers for mental health and substance abuse would be better off without the Department of Health’s oversight. “I’m not sure if … we need to redefine and reorganize how we do things,” said Sen. Carlos Cisneros,
D-Questa, “but clearly what we’re doing is not working. We know that.” The Department of Health’s request for more money highlights the tight financial constraints the state is facing as a new legislative session begins Tuesday. Dramatically falling oil prices have driven down revenue expectations for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Outside the few priority programs that Gov. Susana Martinez and legislators have identified as crucial — public schools, economic development and child protection — there is little money to spread around. The $6.4 million increase that the Department of Health is seeking for its budget to run seven state-operated health facilities in the coming year far exceeds the $1 million that the governor’s budget staff have proposed, and the legislative budget office has rec-
ommended no increase. Even as the number of people receiving care and treatment in the state’s health facilities has declined in recent years, spending on overtime and contract personnel to staff them has risen, according to an analysis by Legislative Finance Committee staff. Collectively, the centers are just 60 percent full, the most recent data on occupancy from July, August and September showed. However, spending on contract employees at the centers in lieu of permanent staff has risen to nearly $4.3 million, when it stood at just $1.3 million two years ago. Spending on employee overtime also has climbed sharply, growing by 48 percent to $10.7 million from $7.2 million in 2009. Legislative Finance Committee staff recommended that the Department
of Health could save money by filling vacant positions with permanent employees. Between 2008 and 2013, the department returned more than $15 million in unspent money to the state, largely because of savings from leaving positions vacant, committee staff reported. Together with the unspent money the department historically has returned to the state, the request for millions of dollars more in the next budget “suggests problematic spending,” according to a Legislative Finance Committee staff report released Monday. Retta Ward, Martinez’s Cabinet secretary for the Department of Health, said the department already is making progress filling vacant positions. As of last week, the vacancy rate at state-run health facilities, when pending hires are included, stood at 12 percent, compared
Report outlines steps to improve early education
GETTING READY IN THE ROUNDHOUSE
By Robert Nott The New Mexican
From left, Jonathan Dean and Raphael Baca from Legislative Building Services work Monday on the House floor in the Roundhouse to prepare for the 2015 legislative session. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
Poll: Public wants lobbyist disclosure By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
An overwhelming majority of New Mexicans believe that lobbyists should have to make public the bills and issues for which they have been paid to advocate, according to a poll released Monday. Results of the poll, paid for by the government watchdog group Common Cause New Mexico, also showed that 64 percent of New Mexicans surveyed firmly believe New Mexico’s elected officials are more responsive to lobbyists than to voters. Only 19 percent said they believe elected officials are more responsive to voters. The telephone poll conducted by New Mexico Research & Polling found wide support for stricter campaign finance disclosures, establishing a state ethics com-
mission and requiring legislators to wait at least two years before becoming lobbyists. “The results of this poll confirm what we’ve been saying for several years, namely that everyone deserves to know who is lobbying and paying for the campaigns of our elected officials, and everyone should be held accountable for their actions,” Viki Harrison, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, said in a written statement Monday. Making lobbyists disclose the bills they are working will be the purpose of legislation to be introduced in the 2015 session by Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces. An 89 percent share of poll respondents said that is a good idea, while only 8 percent said it is a bad idea. Under current law, lobbyists must submit forms identifying their
Legislative roundup Days remaining in the session: 60 Gov. Susana Martinez will give the annual State of the State address Tuesday to a joint session of the New Mexico Legislature. The speech will begin sometime after the Legislature officially convenes at noon. The starting time for her speech is expected to be about 1 p.m. KNME TV Channel 5.1 will broadcast the speech and stream it live on the website of New Mexico In Focus, www.newmexicoinfocus.org. The Santa Fe New Mexican website, www.santafenewmexican.com, also will have a live stream of the speech. Instant analysis: KNME will host a panel discussion after the speech. Panelists will include former state Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque; former Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero, D-Albuquerque; Gabriel Sanchez, a political science professor at The University of New Mexico; and Margaret Wright of the New Mexico Political Report, a new liberal news website. Gene Grant, host of the weekly public affairs program New Mexico In Focus, will moderate. Twenty new members: The House and Senate have business to conduct on opening day. The House must swear in its 70 members, 19 of whom are freshmen. The 42-member Senate will swear in one new member, Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque. Bernalillo County commissioners appointed the veteran House member to replace former Sen. Tim Keller, who was elected state auditor. High price of victory: Freshman state Rep. Bealquin Gomez says he is beginning his legislative career with substantial debt. “I’ve got $37,000 in legal bills,” he said in an interview Monday. Gomez, a Democrat from La Mesa in Doña Ana County, defeated longtime Rep. Mary Helen Garcia in last year’s primary election. She sued, challenging his win in state District Court. Gomez said his legal fees were hefty but worthwhile.
to a 19 percent vacancy rate at the same time last year. Low occupancy and high rates of patients who can’t pay for services are hurting the department’s bottom line. As care centers of last resort, the state facilities have not benefited from Medicaid expansion or the state’s growing number of insured residents under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because a high rate of the people they treat have no means of payment at all, Ward said. Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, said the financial struggles at department-operated facilities warrant an evaluation to determine whether the Department of Health should continue to manage those centers in the future or whether the facilities should become an independent agency unto themselves.
clients, but there is no mechanism to disclose which individual bills they are working for or against. The poll asked whether the respondents favor making public all contributions — from individuals, corporations, political action committees, unions or nonprofits. A total of 92 percent favored that idea. That’s up from 87 percent last year. Nonprofits can’t legally donate directly to candidates, though they can buy “issue ads” that are directed at candidates they support or oppose. Under current law, independent expenditure groups, which are not directly connected to a campaign, are not required to reveal the sources of their money. The poll is based on results of telephone interviews with 451 registered New Mexico voters, conducted Jan. 9. It has a statistical margin of error of 4 percent.
ON OUR WEBSITE u Follow legislative coverage at www.santafenew mexican.com/news/legislature. u Read Steve Terrell’s blog, www.roundhouse roundup.com, and Milan Simonich’s blog, Ringside Seat at http://tinyurl.com/RingsideSeat. u Subscribe to our updates on Twitter at www.twit ter.com/thenewmexican. He won the court case, and that kept his election victory on the books. Capital idea: State Rep. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, is trying again to create a small business development fund. Egolf has introduced a bill that would allow up to $100 million of the state’s severance tax endowment to be directed to the development fund for investments. His proposal is likely to face opposition. Republicans are in control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954, and they have been wary of tapping state endowments for new programs. Egolf says small businesses are the bedrock of any economy, and his bill addresses the problem of how companies get access to money they need to grow. First order of business: The House is expected to pass House Bill 1, the Feed Bill. It will provide money for the costs of the session, such as daily expense allowances for the 112 legislators. Democrats’ watchword: When House Democrats outlined their legislative priorities Monday, several of the 33 members used the word security to sum up what they hope to achieve. State residents are looking for more security in schools by having quality teachers and they want to feel more secure economically so they can pay their mortgage, Egolf said. The government’s job is to create the right climate and structure, he said. Then, “if you work hard and play by the rules, there will be tremendous opportunity for you,” Egolf said. The New Mexican
While New Mexico has increased programs and funding for early childhood education — including $9 million for home-visiting services since 2007 — many children are still not being reached because of a lack of financing, collaboration and communication, according to a report presented Monday to the Legislative Finance Committee. For example, it would cost the state another $44 million to conduct home visits to half of the state’s low-income families dealing with a first-time birth, the report notes. And the state is not collecting information about the poverty status of families receiving home-visiting services, which means it may not be prioritizing its neediest at-risk citizens. The report also notes that the quality of pre-K programs in the state has dropped off slightly since 2008, to 3.88 from 4.12 on a scale of 1 (inadequate) to 7 (excellent). But Leighann Lenti, the Public Education Department’s deputy secretary for policy and programs, said the state only recently expanded Pre-K and K-3 Plus programming — adding 25 days of learning to the school year over the summer months — and “it takes them a couple of years to hit the full threshold.” Among the report’s recommendations: Direct the Children, Youth and Families Department to develop a plan for expanding home-visiting services to low-income families; increase funding to expand home-visiting services; incrementally increase financing for K-3 Plus;
and expand Pre-K programs for 3-yearolds and low-income 4-year-olds. National reports on the impact of early childhood education programs indicate they better prepare students to enter kindergarten and the K-12 school system. Yet other reports, including one from the nonprofit research think tank Brookings Institution, yield mixed results, and a 2013 Legislative Finance Committee report said not all of the state’s early childhood programs are netting positive academic results. With the exception of private providers, the bulk of the state’s early childhood programs are directed and funded by either the Children, Youth and Families Department or the Public Education Department. For the most part, committee members asked few questions following the presentation, although Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque, asked whether early childhood services are being duplicated and whether there are any state-mandated eligibility requirements for home-visiting clients. The answer to each question is no. The Legislative Finance Committee recommends investing $260 million in early childhood education programs for the next fiscal year, a boost of $24 million. Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, chairman of the committee, said Monday that legislators “gotta make it happen” when it comes to supporting early childhood initiatives. “I hope it doesn’t gather any dust,” he said of the report.
Dems: Plan to fight for reduced mandated testing compulsory membership in unions. Martinez said that Monday, Martin Other House Democrats said they Luther King Jr. Day, was a fitting time for would fight for bills to limit class sizes, House Democrats to pledge their support reduce standardized testing in public to organized labor. schools and keep a 2003 law that allows “Collective bargaining for jobs is a civil state residents without proof of immigraright,” Martinez said. tion status to obtain a New Mexico driver’s He said the Republican proposal would license. hurt workers, not create jobs. Their bill Rep. Georgene Louis, D-Albuquerque, “takes away the ability of labor to fight for said she was a teenage mother on Acoma that brotherhood and sisterhood,” MartiPueblo, a tough start. nez said. “Education saved me,” said Louis, now A freshman Democratic representative, 37 and an attorney. “The opposition values 33-year-old attorney Javier Martinez of testing over teaching, and that’s not what Albuquerque, no relation to the outgoing we’re about.” speaker, said Republicans were disingenuRep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, D-Los ous in their attempts to repeal the law that Alamos, has introduced a bill enabling allows New Mexico residents without parents to withdraw their children from proof of immigration status to obtain a certain tests now mandated by the state. state driver’s license. A teacher, Garcia Richard also has filed a Republicans often say the repeal is not proposed constitutional amendment to about immigrants but about public safety. limit class sizes. “Of course it’s about immigration,” She said House Democrats want available money spent in classrooms, “not test- Javier Martinez said. “They’re targeting immigrants to score cheap political ing and testing companies.” points.” Rep. Nate Gentry of Albuquerque, Javier Martinez, born in El Paso, spent majority leader of House Republicans, his boyhood on the U.S.-Mexico border. criticized Democrats for being combative. He said immigrants come to New Mexico “It’s sad that it’s not even opening day because they want a better, safer life. of the legislative session and already the Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, no House Democrats are choosing Washingrelation to the legislators, has campaigned ton, D.C.-style divisiveness over bipartiagainst the licensing law since 2010. She sanship,” Gentry said in a statement. “We calls it dangerous and says it is a magnet hope they can change their course and for fraud because people who do not live join us in putting politics aside in order to in New Mexico come to the state to illeadvance our state.” Egolf said Democrats are willing to join gally obtain a license. Javier Martinez said that argument is with Republicans on issues that are in the weak because so other many states have interest of state residents, but would not followed New Mexico’s lead and granted abandon core principles. driving privileges to undocumented immiRep. Kenny Martinez, D-Grants, the grants. Seven states and Washington, D.C., outgoing speaker of the House, said he is in 2013 approved immigrant licensing laws committed to fighting the Republicans’ similar to New Mexico’s. attempt to pass a bill that would outlaw
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