九色网

State lawmakers recently made their disappointment clear with the Department of Health during a presentation of an evaluation of the state鈥檚 medication assisted treatment program for substance use disorder. It came just weeks after an announcement that DOH would be expanding the program.

New Mexico鈥檚 poverty rate is sitting at 18.1%, which is 5.7% higher than the national average. This contributes to the state鈥檚 unstable housing challenges.

New Mexico has been facing a shortage of thousands of health care workers for years, and during a presentation to lawmakers last week, the Legislative Finance Committee said it will be even worse five years from now.

New Mexico鈥檚 Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo presented an update on the state鈥檚 access to both physical and behavioral health care at a Legislative Finance Committee meeting in Taos on Wednesday. Despite an increase in the number of behavioral health providers and greater patient utilization, the state is seeing worse outcomes in a few areas.

On Thursday, the state interim Investments and Pensions Oversight Committee held their first meeting since this year's legislative session where they reviewed performance of state funds.

A nonprofit research firm says New Mexico doesn鈥檛 have enough funding in place to properly maintain and improve the state鈥檚 transportation system. What鈥檚 more, declining and deficient infrastructure is costing New Mexicans billions of dollars.

One of the largest general fund appropriations in the department鈥檚 history, the recommendation from the Legislative Finance Committee 鈥� which would be spread across three years 鈥� would bring aid for 鈥渟pecies of greatest conservation need鈥� with dwindling or threatened populations.

The Legislative Finance Committee released its recommendations ahead of the beginning of the session next week. They were close to a budget the Governor released last year.

In Santa Fe, state agencies galore made their case for a piece of the state鈥檚 expanding general fund this week as they presented budget requests. 九色网鈥檚 Daniel Monta帽o reports the state鈥檚 newest agency pitched a second year budget $3.1 billion more than its first year鈥檚

Children, Youth, and Families Department Sec. Teresa Casados told lawmakers Tuesday that, while the department is improving, it needs more funding to make real progress.