The Senate passed the state budget Monday on a 31-10 vote.
HB 2 creates a $10.18 billion Fiscal Year 25 state budget, which is a 6.5 percent increase in recurring funds from the previous budget. In all, this adds up to reserves of 30 percent of the budget.
“So the idea here, Mr. President, was to level out all of those peaks and valleys from oil and gas, and try to make it so that we didn’t have another one of those terrible crashes…It was painful for those of us that were here,” Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, said.
Some Senators argued that the state should have used some of the extra funds for projects now instead of placing them in reserves to cushion for future possible deficits.
“If we spent a little more investing in now, we might not have so many needs in the future,” Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said. “On the other hand, this is where we’ve got to budget before us, it’s the expense of a lot of things that I think are valuable.”
Related: Budget with 6.5% increase approved by House
Ortiz y Pino was unhappy that the budget takes money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant.
“We could have used that TANF Block Grant money, which is 100 percent federal money coming to the state for candidate recipients which could have used that, to expand the benefits and make life a little more bearable for the poorest among us,” Ortiz y Pino said.
Sen. Bill Burt, R-Alamogordo, said that he would rather that some of the budget be saved rather than spent.
“I think this is a good budget and I think we should pass this budget,” Burt said. “I’m gonna vote for this budget. I haven’t for the last four or five years, and it has some problems, but I’m gonna vote for it… But until we also get serious about (looking) down the road, we’ve got to look further than the next few years.”
Burt’s fellow senator from Alamogordo also called it a decent budget.
“I think what you have is a budget that’s workable. Could be better and we can argue that until the cows come home, but we got a budget that’s workable,” Sen. Ron Griggs, R-Alamogordo, said.
Griggs suggested that future budgets show a comparison between the proposed budget and previous years.
This is Griggs’ final legislative session due to his retirement at his term’s end.
The budget includes:
- $1.2 billion for natural resources, housing and innovation
- $24 million to judicial branch agencies
- $7 million to support victim advocates, sexual assault victims and supplement federal grants for crime victims
- $11.7 million for the New Mexico Department of Health
- $1.96 billion to the Health Care Authority Department and $180 million for Medicaid
- $3 million for tribal health councils
- $19.6 million to expand Pre-K
- $4.43 billion in recurring funds for public schools
- $50 million to the tribal Educational Trust Fund
- $20 million to pilot and evaluate evidence-based strategies to improve the Children, Youth and Families Department
- The Higher Education Department will receive $1.3 billion in recurring funds
- $100 million to develop a strong workforce
- $10 billion to establish a new Green Bank
- $300 million in the Lands of Enchantment Legacy Fund for water conservation, outdoor recreation, agriculture, and wildlife protection
- $150 million to the Department of Transportation for major infrastructure, maintenance and road improvements
HB 2 passed the House on a 53-to-16 vote on Jan. 31. It now goes back to the House to deal with changes made on the Senate side before it can be sent to the governor.