Legislative Finance Committee

New Mexico juvenile justice reforms to divert low-risk offenders from confinement has led to far fewer youth in secure facilities, but the state lacks the prevention and treatment services to keep low-risk juveniles from returning to the justice system.

New Mexico has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, but a shrinking but still generous benefits packages theoretically allows many families to meet their needs.

The Department of Transportation reports an overall deterioration of the state’s roads, with the 2024 annual road condition survey noting the lowest ratings in recent history, even as the Legislature might lose flexibility to supplement road funding.

The number of nonrecurring appropriations made by the Legislature to local governments has jumped from one for $250 thousand in FY18 to 33 for $232 million in FY26. At the same time, state capital outlay appropriations to local governments increased by 431 percent.

The Legislature has invested in high school career and technical education pilots and classroom infrastructure, but simply increasing funds for career and technical education may not lead to more robust programming and could lead to inefficient spending practices or reinforcement of the status quo.

General fund reserves have enough revenue to cover a “worst case” economic downturn, but current liabilities limit budget growth.

Despite spending more to provide healthcare to fewer New Mexicans, quality and access in the Medicaid program have changed little.

The Legislature should consider taking steps to reduce the amount of outstanding capital outlay balances, including more careful vetting of some projects, limiting appropriations to water systems that can be funded through grants, and restricting the reauthorization of funds for idle projects.