Committee adopts LFC recurring recommendation for Workforce Solutions after overview of apprenticeships, RESEA and workforce programs

The House Appropriations & Finance committee reviewed the Workforce Solutions Department's recurring and nonrecurring budget proposals and heard updates on unemployment insurance administration, registered apprenticeships, reemployment services (RESEA) and other workforce programs. The committee adopted the LFC recurring-budget recommendation for the department.

Rachel Garcia, the LFC analyst for Workforce Solutions, summarized the two analysts' recommendations as nearly identical for recurring appropriations, with a small $730,000 difference predominately in transfer-revenue usage. Both recommendations preserve a $9.67 million commitment for registered apprenticeship programs; the LFC places that funding in the established employment-services program code while the executive proposed a new program code to separately track apprenticeship funds.

Secretary Sarita Nair described recent program outcomes. She said reemployment services for claimants at risk of exhausting benefits have grown, and that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) CareerLink activity and hires have increased. The department highlighted grants and competitive awards that expand apprenticeship and climate-careers pathways, including a $5.9 million federal registered-apprenticeship expansion grant and private funding supporting climate-career planning and a new Office for New Americans.

Lawmakers questioned apprenticeship reach and eligibility: the department said New Mexico has roughly 2,000 registered apprentices statewide and that both union and nonunion sponsors participate; the state's programs register occupation-specific apprenticeships and employers participate by joining a registered program. Members also raised questions about pre-apprenticeship visibility in rural areas and whether mobile outreach and partnerships with community colleges and local employers can be expanded. Secretary Nair noted recent mobile- and regional-outreach activity and new manufacturing and modular-housing projects (BuiltWise in Roswell) that will produce regional construction jobs when fully operational.

Discussion included technical items and contingency language: both recommendations reduce a workers'- compensation administration transfer historically used to fund some apprenticeship activity (WCA fund declines), and both replace a portion of that transfer with $250,000 in general-fund backfill to sustain apprenticeship spending. The LFC recommendation also included a contingent nonrecurring appropriation to implement a paid-family-and-medical-leave program if such legislation passes.

On nonrecurring requests, LFC and the executive recommended similar sets of items. The executive proposed a $500,000 special appropriation to continue a local journalism fellowship (paid local journalism fellowships), while LFC did not include that amount. Other nonrecurring proposals that the analysts both discussed included aligned case-management technology and a survey study to better understand the state's lower-than-average labor-force participation rate.

The committee then voted on the recurring-budget recommendation. Vice Chair Dixon moved adoption of the LFC recommendation; Representative Lehi seconded. The motion carried; Representative Pettigrew was recorded in opposition. The committee deferred final decisions on nonrecurring special appropriations to later hearings.

Members asked for follow-up details including employer-level counts for apprenticeship participation, county-level maps of prior workforce investments, and information about collaborations with community colleges and tribal governments for training and pre-apprenticeship efforts. The department said it would provide additional data to committee staff and welcomed further legislative direction on workforce priorities.