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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Varela
DATE TYPED 1/24/2005 HB 97
SHORT TITLE Family Preservation Act
SB
ANALYST Dunbar
APPROPRIATION
Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY05
FY06
FY05
FY06
See Narrative
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD
NM Public Education Department (NMPED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 97 amends the Family Preservation Act renaming it as the Family Support Act. The
bill outlines the state’s policy of support for the family and emphasizes the responsibilities of
parents and the state in the healthy development of children and the family as an institution.
CYFD would be responsible for the implementation and coordination of the provision of family
support services; ensure the statewide quality of family support services by providing standards
and policies, monitoring the provisions of family support, providing training to persons who pro-
vide family support and establish a standardized intake process for the purpose of assessing the
needs of a child and family referred for family support services.
Significant Issues
NMPED expressed concern that the bill adds language to include “intact, functional families”
and “nuclear families” but does not define these terms. Other concerns of NMPED are that the
legislation does not outline how parental responsibility will be enforced and which agency is re-
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House Bill 97 Page 2
sponsible for developing plans to support families as defined in Section 4. It is currently the
state’s responsibility to provide free, quality education in a safe learning environment
House Bill 97 relates to the family services offered by CYFD, New Mexico schools, mental
health and other social services providers that focus on helping vulnerable families stay together
as a functional family unit.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
This bill is consistent with CYFD performance measures relating to “front-end” prevention and
early intervention services.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
This bill is consistent with CYFD’s efforts to realign financial resources to “front-end” commu-
nity-based programs to address child and family issues at the earliest opportunity before inten-
sive and costly intervention approaches are necessary. NMPED indicates that
there could be a
significant fiscal impact on current programs for developing and implementing activities outlined
in the bill.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
This bill is consistent with CYFD’s efforts to expand “front-end” community-based services.
According to NMPED the bill would impact the amount of time the Public Education Depart-
ment (PED) staff spends on technical assistance, leadership and support for homeless education,
nutrition education and the effects that drugs, alcohol and tobacco have on the student, family
and community.
BD/yr