Current:Home > InvestNew Mexico budget bill would found literacy institute, propel housing construction and conservation-LoTradeCoin
New Mexico budget bill would found literacy institute, propel housing construction and conservation
View Date:2024-12-23 20:32:29
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s strategy for spending and investing a multibillion-dollar annual surplus linked closely to oil production came into sharper focus Saturday, as a legislative panel advanced an annual spending plan toward a Senate floor vote.
Legislators are tapping the brakes on recent double-digit budget increases in the nation’s No. 2 state for oil production behind Texas, while setting aside money in endowments and investment accounts to ensure funding for critical programs in the future — in case the world’s hunger for oil weakens.
Advancing on a 11-0 committee vote, the amended budget proposal would increase annual state general fund spending by roughly 6.8%, to $10.2 billion, for the fiscal year that runs from July 2024 through June 2025.
Proposed changes from the Senate add $32 million to the spending package, setting average public salary increases at 3% for state employees and staff at K-12 schools, state colleges and public universities.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has advocated for a more robust spending package, a 10% annual spending increase that would shore up housing opportunities, childhood literacy and health care access.
New Mexico’s Legislature assembles its own budget — a bill that currently includes the governor’s $30 million request to establish a literacy institute and bolster reading programs, along with $125 million in new financing for housing development projects.
Democratic state Sen. George Muñoz of Gallup, chairman of the lead Senate budget-writing committee, said the budget plan slows down spending increases and still funnels more money to rural hospitals, the new literacy institute, state police salaries, safety-net program for seniors and increased highway spending to overcome inflationary construction costs.
A monthly payment of $25 to impoverished seniors and the disabled from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would increase to $100, he said.
“You can leave at the end of the day and say we helped the poor, we helped the seniors, we helped law enforcement, you fixed a lot of things,” Muñoz said.
Legislators also want to help the state and local governments compete for a greater share of federal infrastructure spending from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s signature climate, health care and tax package. Senate budget amendments apply $75 million in state matching funds to the effort.
Under another $1.5 million budget provision, New Mexico would for the first time help compensate landowners and agricultural producers when wolves are confirmed to have killed livestock or working animals.
Wolf-livestock conflicts have been a major challenge in reintroducing endangered Mexican gray wolves to the Southwest over the past two decades. Ranchers say the killing of livestock by wolves remains a threat to their livelihood despite efforts by wildlife managers to scare the wolves away and reimburse some of the losses.
Separately, a conservation fund established in 2023 would get a new $300 million infusion. The fund underwrites an array of conservation programs at state natural resources agencies, from soil enhancement programs in agriculture to conservation of threatened and big-game species.
Leading Democratic legislators also say they want to ensure that new initiatives at agencies overseen by the governor are cost-effective and responsive — especially when it comes to public education, foster care and child protective services — before future funding is guaranteed.
The state House on Friday endorsed the creation of the “government results and opportunity” trust that would underwrite pilot programs during a three-year vetting period, with requirements for annual reports to the Legislature’s accountability and budget office. The Legislature’s budget bill would place $512 million in the trust.
“It gives us funding for several years to solve problems,” said Rep. Nathan Small of Las Cruces, a cosponsor of the initiative. “It gives us a quick ability to analyze whether or not, and how, that’s working.”
Legislators have until noon Thursday to deliver a budget to the governor, who can veto any and all spending items.
veryGood! (11479)
Related
- Groups seek a new hearing on a Mississippi mail-in ballot lawsuit
- Sea level rise could cost Europe billions in economic losses, study finds
- Officials in Martinique rescue two boaters and search for three others after boat capsizes
- The 1,650th victim of 9/11 was named after 22 years. More than 1,100 remain unidentified.
- Who will be in the top 12? Our College Football Playoff ranking projection
- Teen Mom's Kailyn Lowry Gives Birth to Twins, Welcomes Baby No. 6 and 7
- These Are the Best No Show Underwear To Wear Beneath Leggings
- Prosecutors arrest flight attendant on suspicion of trying to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
- Kentucky woman seeking abortion files lawsuit over state bans
- Haven't made it to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour yet? International dates may offer savings
Ranking
- Sam LaPorta injury update: Lions TE injures shoulder, 'might miss' Week 11
- Home sales slowed to a crawl in 2023. Here's why.
- 'Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell' is a film where a big screen makes a big difference
- After Taiwan’s election, its new envoy to the US offers assurances to Washington and Beijing
- How Leonardo DiCaprio Celebrated His 50th Birthday
- Harvard creates task forces on antisemitism and Islamophobia
- Former Sinn Fein leader Adams faces a lawsuit in London over bombings during the ‘Troubles’
- Chargers interview former Stanford coach David Shaw for head coaching vacancy
Recommendation
-
Oprah Winfrey Addresses Claim She Was Paid $1 Million by Kamala Harris' Campaign
-
Kristen Stewart Debuts Micro Bangs Alongside Her Boldest Outfit Yet
-
Mexican marines detain alleged leader of Gulf drug cartel, the gang that kidnapped, killed Americans
-
Good girl! Officer enlists a Michigan man’s dog to help rescue him from an icy lake
-
Mike Tyson emerges as heavyweight champ among product pitchmen before Jake Paul fight
-
Online rumors partially to blame for drop in water pressure in Mississippi capital, manager says
-
Maine has a workforce shortage problem that it hopes to resolve with recently arrived immigrants
-
LeVar Burton stunned to discover ancestor served with Confederacy on 'Finding Your Roots'