State election costs nearly tripled between the 2021 regular local election and the 2024 general election, largely due to increased vendor and county costs

The healthcare insurance premium surtax generates more money for the healthcare affordability fund than needed to support programs that make health insurance more accessible, but changes on the federal level could increase demand.

Nearly two decades after LFC evaluators began tracking cohorts of prekindergarten students, evaluators are still finding that students who enroll in state-funded prekindergarten score better on literacy assessments and graduate at higher rates.

While oil and gas operators plug most inactive wells, the state must plug thousands “orphaned” by drillers, a job that is likely to take close to a decade and cost more than $200 million.

State funding for public school student transportation reached a record high of $133.8 million in FY25 despite continued enrollment and bus ridership declines.

New Mexico’s 326 electric vehicle charging stations is far below the 1,300 state average but in proportion to the number of EVs in the state. But stations are not evenly distributed through the state, with three-quarters of stations in urban areas and rural and tribal lands largely underserved.

Around 40 percent of those released from New Mexico prisons will return within three years, but even though national best practices to address recidivism are well-studied, New Mexico falls short of implementing those best practices upon intake, in the reentry process, and in community supervision.