Developmental Disabilities Council urges more funding as guardianship wait list and caseloads rise

The Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC) told legislators the Office of Guardianship is seeing record demand and that funding differences between the Legislative Finance Committee and the executive will affect how many applicants on the wait list can be served.

Executive Director Lisonbee McCoy and analysts told the subcommittee that the DDC operates two main programs: the DDC council program (advocacy, a Center for Self‑Advocacy and the Office of the Special Education Ombud) and the Office of Guardianship, which provides legal petitions and ongoing professional guardianship for income‑eligible New Mexicans with developmental or intellectual disabilities.

McCoy said the office currently serves 1,130 people in ongoing professional guardianships and had a wait list of 306 applicants—up from roughly 125 the previous year. The wait list includes both requests for professional guardians (about 145) and family guardians (about 161). The office explained professional guardianships create ongoing, indefinite costs for the state (monthly professional guardian fees for as long as the guardianship continues), while petition‑related legal services (attorneys, guardians ad litem, court visitors) are generally one‑time costs.

LFC recommended $7.53 million in contractual services for guardianship and projected that amount would support roughly 1,249 active guardianship cases and enable processing about 285 new applications from the wait list. The executive recommended a higher contractual services level—roughly $519,000 more—which the office says would fund 1,345 active cases and support the same number of new petitions.

On nonrecurring requests, the executive proposed $650,000 for wait‑list management; LFC funded $500,000 and noted a supplemental request was later submitted for an additional $300,000 that the executive did not include because it was filed late. The executive also proposed $660,000 in GROW funds for outreach and the Office of Special Education Ombuds activities; LFC did not fund that.

McCoy and staff emphasized the Office of Special Education Ombud provides free advocacy and that the council seeks legal counsel funding for the ombud office because the statute requires legal support. Committee members sought details about reversions and historical funding; analysts noted DDC has had years with deficits and years of zero reversion, and that the guardianship program has required budget adjustments in prior years to move money from contracts into personnel when court timing required it.

The subcommittee adopted the LFC operating recommendation for the DDC and noted the supplemental and nonrecurring items will be considered in the special appropriations hearing.