NM Fairness
Project members,
We hope you
are healthy and keeping your distance!
Like most of you, we’re working from home these days but busier than
ever.
While the
daily deluge of news around the COVID-19 pandemic is rarely good, early action
by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham means New Mexico is actually better prepared
for the pandemic than many states. We are also slightly better prepared for the
recession that is sure to follow (you can read more about that here).
It’s looking like a special session of the Legislature will be necessary to
address the loss of revenue from dropping oil and gas prices, and we hope you’ll
join us there (either in person or remotely) to make sure the needs of New
Mexico’s kids, families, and communities are front and center.
Here’s some of what‘s keeping us busy:
·
We are currently working on fact sheets about
the two aid packages recently passed by Congress and what that will mean for
New Mexico. Stay tuned.
·
Find our blog on state policy recommendations to
help families impacted by the economic changes here.
·
Find our blog on how the safety net can be
improved during this crisis here.
Coming soon: a blog on fiscal steps the state
should take to help manage the ongoing crises.
We’re also prepping for a likely special session in mid to
late June. We are grateful for the high level of reserves but still deeply
concerned that harmful budget cuts could be enacted. While there’s no doubt
that the state budget needs to be adjusted (some increases and some cuts), this
is no time for New Mexico to retreat on the gains that were made in 2019 and
2020. The austerity of the great recession drove us to last in education, child
well-being and even in job growth. We can’t repeat the failed strategy of that
“lost decade.”
Like many of you, we’re working with our congressional
delegation to encourage more aid for state and local government budgets, an
increase in the Medicaid match rate, support for education, infrastructure,
unemployment insurance, aid to small businesses and much more. We are hoping
that with significant federal aid and our substantial reserves, New Mexico can
weather this fiscal storm without damaging cuts.
Here is some of what we know about the federal fiscal relief that
is coming directly to the state of NM:
·
The Families First Act (C-2) boosted the
federal matching rate for Medicaid and will increase federal dollars to NM by
about $250M. There is a push by Governors and many in Congress to increase the
federal match even more.
·
The CARES Act (C-3) provided $1.25B in aid to
the state for COVID19 related expenses and about $182M of that will go to
Bernalillo County and the city of Albuquerque. It is not yet clear if those
funds can be used to backfill the state revenue lost because of the economic
shutdown related to the pandemic. Governors are pushing hard for the Treasury
Department to interpret the law broadly to help the states.
· The
CARES Act (C-3) provided $209M to the state for education. Of that, $107.7M is for K12, $79.4M for higher education
and $22.5M for the governor’s emergency education relief fund.
Families
First and the CARES Act also include individual rebates, unemployment insurance
increases, and some housing, food security, and health care benefits, however
much more still needs to be done. We’ll soon be releasing a report about what
has been included in the packages, what and who have been left out of benefits,
and the gaps that policy makers still need to fill in order to ensure all New
Mexico families can survive and thrive beyond these crises.
We are also well aware of those who have been left out of the
federal aid packages. We’ve been raising our voice and working with allies in
the immigrant community to identify ways to support immigrant families in four
critical areas – food insecurity, housing, unemployment insurance and health
care.
In these difficult times, increased state revenue can also be a
part of the solution. One of the initiatives that we hope might be promoted in
the special session is replacing a federal health insurance premium tax
that ends in December 2020 with a state premium tax. Enacting the legislation
in the special session would allow the overall premium tax to remain the same,
but would increase state revenues by about $120M/yr. At a time when the state
needs an influx of health care dollars, an initiative such as this seems timely
and justifiable.
We’re also looking at other possible revenue changes and hope
you will share your ideas and priorities with us. Please keep in touch!
Wishing you all good fiscal and physical health!
Bill Jordan
NM Voices for Children
505-350-3097 cell