Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Caregiver Screening topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee gives do‑pass to bill expanding disqualifying convictions and review rights for caregiver background checks
Summary
House Bill 131 would add additional felony convictions to the caregiver background check disqualifiers, allow application of an unreasonable risk standard, and add judicial review for disqualified applicants; the Senate Judiciary Committee gave the bill a do‑pass recommendation after agency testimony and limited opposition.
House Bill 131, an agency bill to amend caregiver background check law, received a do‑pass recommendation from the Senate Judiciary Committee after an agency presentation and brief testimony in opposition.
The bill would amend the caregiver screening statute (as described in committee testimony) to add certain felony convictions that disqualify an applicant for paid caregiver positions. Sponsor testimony cited additions on page 4, subsection (d), items 9–12 as including human trafficking, assault of a peace officer, identity theft and cruelty to animals. The bill also permits the administering agency to apply an “unreasonable risk” standard when evaluating applicants and adds judicial review rights for disqualified applicants in the administrative process.
Alex Castillo Smith, deputy secretary at the New Mexico Health Care Authority, described the bill as part of the authority’s work to improve protections for vulnerable people and cited a reported increase in severe abuse and exploitation since fiscal year 2022. Castillo Smith told the committee the caregiver screening program processes roughly 55,000 background checks a year.
Jacob (Jake) Smith, representing a group on Zoom, opposed the bill on the grounds of alleged prior data‑security issues tied to the transfer of the screening program from the Department of Health to the Health Care Authority. Mr. Smith urged oversight and accountability regarding a reported breach of personal information; the Health Care Authority replied at the hearing that it was not aware of a breach specific to the caregiver screening program.
Committee members discussed appellate language. One senator asked whether the bill needed a specific statutory citation to a district‑court appeal statute; Mark Reynolds, general counsel for the Health Care Authority, said administrative‑process appeal rules would apply and that Supreme Court Rule 1074 provides for appeals when a statutory right exists. The sponsor offered to make technical fixes on the floor if necessary.
After discussion, a due‑pass motion carried; the committee recorded no formal roll call tally in the excerpt provided but the chair announced that a due‑pass recommendation had been adopted.
If enacted, the bill would change statutory disqualifiers and incorporate an administrative unreasonable‑risk review standard and an explicit avenue for judicial review for applicants challenged through the background check process.
