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Subcommittee questions expansions for DoIT, backs LFC motion to reconcile differences on broadband, cybersecurity and radio subsidies
Summary
The Appropriations & Finance subcommittee reviewed Department of Information Technology budget differences with LFC and the executive, heard broadband office priorities including requests for satellite and matching funds, and voted to advance the LFC recommendation while asking staff to review differences with the executive proposal.
The Appropriations & Finance subcommittee accepted the Legislative Finance Committee recommendation for the Department of Information Technology’s operating budget and directed staff to review differences between the executive and LFC recommendations. The panel heard detailed briefings on DoIT’s enterprise services, cybersecurity office and the Office of Broadband.
Emily Hilla, the LFC analyst for DoIT, outlined the primary differences: the executive recommended substantial general fund increases for the Office of Cybersecurity and for a radio-subsidy program tied to the state’s P25 radio system; the LFC kept base budgets flatter and did not support some executive expansions. Hilla said the executive recommendation included a 63.7% increase in general fund revenue for some enterprise services over FY25 while the LFC supported a much smaller increase.
Manny Barretas, cabinet secretary-designate for the Department of Information Technology, described operational changes he is pursuing, including shifting procurement oversight for contracts to the state purchasing division to speed agency contracts and a focus on accounts receivable and billing improvements. Barretas also introduced senior staff and said the department operates on a cost-recovery model serving about 76 state agencies.
Drew Loveless, director of the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, told the committee the office has grown to 27 employees and “is currently sitting on just under a billion dollars of federal and state funding,” largely federal ARPA and Connect New Mexico funds that the office is administering for infrastructure, grant-writing and student connectivity programs. Loveless urged support for several items the executive recommended that the LFC did not: a $70 million accelerated connect-New-Mexico satellite connectivity program, a request for $25 million in infrastructure appropriations that the office said is difficult to execute as a single-year appropriation, and $650,000 the office requested to ensure DoIT (administrative services) receives its share for broadband administrative support.
On cybersecurity, DoIT staff said the executive included a recurring $2 million for contractual cybersecurity work to expand web application firewall and cloud security work; LFC did not include that item because the agency had not requested it in its original submission.
Representative Dow and other members pressed DoIT and the Office of Broadband about coverage for rural and tribal areas, use of satellite services (including Starlink and future entrants such as Amazon’s Kuiper), and whether school districts, counties and municipal hospitals can be covered by state cybersecurity services. DoIT said it provides services to 189 school districts under an attack-surface management program and that local governments can be incorporated if they provide domains or opt into monitoring services.
After questions, Vice Chair Sanchez moved the LFC recommendation and asked staff to reconcile the differences between the LFC and executive recommendations; the committee adopted the motion with no objections recorded in the transcript.
