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2006 Draft Legislative Priorities
Priority one issues
1. Attach public accountability
requirements to new funding for University of NM
Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC)
a. Provide the
public with greater oversight of public funding of UNMHSC and their
provision of care to indigent
New Mexicans.
2. Increase the amount of funding
for new caseworkers in the Income Support
Division
a. ISD
caseworkers have an average caseload of 600 individuals. This figure is
much, much higher than in most
other states, and is double the workload of
counterparts in some states.
b. Caseloads are so high that it can be quite
difficult for caseworkers to serve people
adequately, and state
antipoverty efforts are seriously undermined as a result.
3. Fund the Public Service Lawyers
Loan Repayment Assistance Program
a. One of the reasons that
attorneys are disinclined to enter public service is that they
cannot earn enough in these
jobs to pay off their education debt. This program
offers small amounts of loan
repayment assistance to some attorneys who work in
the public service for at least
three years.
b. Goal: recurring funding of $300,000.
4. Reduce Predatory Lending
a.
Support
legislation that curtails payday loan practices along the lines of Attorney
General Madrid’s proposals,
including sharply reducing the allowable interest rates.
5. Fund a study to review four
options for providing universal health care in
New Mexico
a. Cost: $500,000.
6. Pass an
appropriation for broad-based Civil Legal Services providers
a. Provide a $2,500,000
appropriation for the Civil Legal Services
Commission to
help
New Mexico Legal Aid, Law Access New Mexico, and DNA expand their
services.
b.
These
organizations provide needed legal advocacy services for low-income New
Mexicans who cannot afford an
attorney. The services address problems such as
illegal eviction, tenant and
consumer problems, family law, domestic violence, etc.
7. Increase funding
for General Assistance by $1,000,000 to provide for an
increase in demand for services
a. The
General Assistance program provides small amounts of cash assistance
primarily to seriously disabled poor
people while they are waiting for approval of
Supplemental Security Income. Other
groups eligible for General Assistance are
children
who had to leave their families homes and are living with unrelated
caretakers and certain immigrants,
including battered women and their children,
refugees, and the disabled.
8. Increase funding for the TANF
Wage Subsidy Program
a. The Wage
Subsidy Program helps families receiving TANF assistance get work by
reimbursing qualifying
employers for some of the wages that participants are paid
for six months. Although
participants’ TANF benefits are reduced while in the
program, they earn paychecks,
receive on-the-job-training and one-on-one
supervision, and develop their
skills and marketability, all of which facilitates their
entry into permanent employment
Priority two
issues
1. Restore eligibility for
childcare assistance to working families whose income
is less than 200% of the federal poverty level
a. The state
gives small subsidies to very low-income working families to help them
keep working while paying
for childcare. In 2001, eligibility for childcare assistance
was reduced from 200% FPL
to 100% FPL. Governor Richardson promised to
restore eligibility to
200%, but has only raised it to 150% FPL. Thousands of very
low-income working
families with small children are struggling to continue working
while paying for
childcare. Cost: $10,000,000.
2. Ensure that Medicaid is funded
in accordance with the Governor’s budget,
except in those categories in which the Legislative
Finance Committee
recommendation is higher.
3. Support expansion of Medicaid
eligibility to cover adults with children up to
100% of the Federal Poverty Level
a. Cost:
$30 million.
4. Protect funding for programs
assisting homeless people
a. These
monies—approximately $1,000,000—go to
operating expenses of shelter
programs and provide
services such as case management, counseling, and
homeless prevention rent
assistance.
5. Fund
the state Individual Development Account (IDA) program
a. IDA’s are savings accounts for very low-income people
that help them build assets.
Deposits are matched by federal
and state government and sometimes by
foundations. Money cannot be
withdrawn from the accounts except for use in
purchasing a home, paying for
education, and a few other such uses. Cost: $1.5
million.
Note: The NM Coalition for
Justice, a project of the Center on Law and Poverty, will work to increase
funding for the Public Defender Department
a. Support legislation
that seeks an increase in the appropriation for the public defender department
and oppose any attempts to increase the funding disparity between the public
defenders and district attorneys.
The Center on Law and Poverty will support and
oppose other bills that are introduced during the legislative session; however,
those noted above will receive the greater part of our attention.
For further information, please call us at
255-2840
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