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Panel backs $3 million initial appropriation to pay behavioral‑health practicum students
Summary
House Bill 347 would appropriate funds to provide stipends to students completing unpaid behavioral‑health and addiction counseling practicums; the committee advanced the bill with a do‑pass recommendation and sponsors said $3 million in one‑year, nonrecurring funding was inserted in the budget.
House Bill 347, which would appropriate funds to provide stipends for students completing unpaid practicums in behavioral health and addiction counseling, received a do‑pass recommendation from the Health & Human Services subcommittee.
Representative Ortez, who carried the bill, said the appropriation would remove a barrier for students who otherwise cannot afford an unpaid practicum. She and witnesses said the state’s behavioral‑health workforce pipeline is slowed when students delay or forgo practicums because they must work for pay; advocates told the committee many trainees take four to five years from classroom study to licensed practice because practicums are unpaid and time‑consuming.
Marshall Martinez, executive director of Equality New Mexico and a lead advocate for the bill, said the proposal is the product of a coalition of roughly 11 organizations that mapped behavioral‑health access across the state and identified the unpaid practicum as a key bottleneck. The sponsor noted that a $10 million ask was pared down during budget negotiations and that lawmakers were successful in securing $3 million in one‑year, nonrecurring funding in the pending appropriation (House Bill 2).
Supporters from the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, NAMI New Mexico, Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless and current interns testified the stipend would expand practicum access, increase diversity in the workforce and help keep graduates working in New Mexico. Committee members asked whether funds would cover undergraduate as well as graduate practicums; the sponsor and expert said funds were intended to cover both and that Higher Education Department rules would allocate the money proportionally to institutions based on student counts.
Representative Eleanor Chavez moved a do‑pass recommendation and Representative Kate seconded. The committee advanced the bill by voice vote. Sponsors said they plan follow‑up work in the interim on supervision and supports for host agencies that take on unpaid interns.
