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Committee backs fund to help local governments prepare for extreme weather events
Summary
The House Appropriations & Finance Committee advanced House Bill 109 to create an Extreme Weather Resilience Fund to help communities plan for and respond to heat, wildfire smoke, floods and other climate-driven threats.
Lawmakers in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee recommended House Bill 109, which would establish an Extreme Weather Resilience Fund to support planning, preparedness and small-scale projects that reduce health harms from heat, wildfire smoke, floods and other climate-driven events.
Sponsor Representative Ortiz told the committee the fund would provide grants capped at $1,000,000 to political subdivisions and tribal governments and would prioritize small communities and vulnerable populations; the sponsor said at least 50% of grant awards should go to small or disadvantaged communities. The committee adopted an amendment that struck an explicit appropriation in the bill text; the sponsor and staff said the intent is to place funding through the budget process and that the Department of Health would administer grants.
Public-health and conservation witnesses — including Equality New Mexico, Conservation Voters, Healthy Climate New Mexico and the American Lung Association — urged passage, citing rising heat, wildfire smoke and other health impacts. Witnesses described examples such as installing HVAC at community centers, planning and transport for warming/cooling centers, air-filtration for wildfire smoke events and small-scale emergency-response upgrades.
Questions from committee members focused on overlap with existing programs, how the fund would reach smaller counties that lack capacity, and whether tribal governments would be explicitly included in the priority for awards. Sponsor agreed to add tribal entities to the statutory language requiring at least half of grants go to smaller political subdivisions or tribal governments and to provide reporting back to interim oversight committees so LFC/LESC can track duplication and outcomes.
Next steps: The committee advanced the bill as amended and directed staff to work with the sponsor on drafting language to include tribal entities in award priorities and to add reporting requirements for oversight.
