Legislative analysts from the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) and legislative counsel summarized child welfare legislation and related budget actions before the Legislative Health & Human Services Committee, focusing on implementation tasks, statutory changes and nonrecurring appropriations in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Rachel Garcia of the LFC outlined trends in New Mexico’s child welfare system, noting a child maltreatment rate higher than the national average and that the number of children in foster care has risen since the COVID‑19 pandemic. Analysts said repeat maltreatment and workforce turnover remain key challenges and that community‑based placements and behavioral health capacity are insufficient.

Xander Dawson and Andrea Lazaro walked committee members through major bills. Senate Bill 42 requires updates to data privacy and record retention for child welfare communications, transfers responsibility for the CARA (care‑and‑referral) program to the Health Care Authority (HCA), and requires the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) to develop Family First strategic plans to leverage federal Family First Prevention Services Act funding. SB42 also sets implementation deadlines, including a requirement that CYFD finalize a Family First strategic plan and submit it to the federal government (near term), that a daily backup of electronic records be in place by Jan. 1, and that the HCA implement the revised CARA program and related follow‑up by July 1, 2026. The bill requires a statewide multilevel response system to be implemented by July 1, 2027, and establishes deadlines for piloting Family First‑funded prevention services ahead of a statewide rollout.

Dawson summarized SB283, which requires CYFD to ensure children who enter state custody are screened for and enrolled in federal benefits they are eligible for and that CYFD manage benefits when no guardian can do so. Lazaro described House Bill 5, which creates an Office of the Child Advocate attached administratively to the Attorney General’s Office, requires CYFD to notify the office within 72 hours of a child fatality or near fatality, gives the office authority to investigate and report on CYFD performance, and includes confidentiality protections for records.

On funding, Rachel Garcia said the GAA maintained a relatively flat recurring operating budget for CYFD but included substantial targeted, nonrecurring (multi‑year) appropriations and transfers totaling about $111,000,000 for child welfare activities across sections of the GAA. The listed appropriations included multi‑year investments the committee heard about: $30,000,000 over three years to hire additional caseworkers (profiled as funding roughly 101 caseworkers annually across the period), ongoing pilots to use Family First prevention funding, $9.6 million over two years for case aides, $5.6 million for a regional on‑call response team, $5.4 million over three years to pilot a child welfare workforce training academy, and other operating costs tied to implementing SB42 and responding to the new Office of the Child Advocate. Garcia said some proposed AG startup funding for the new office was vetoed, but $650,000 for FY26 remained in the GAA and CYFD received line items (including $300,000 in personnel funding) to respond to the new office’s inquiries.

Committee members asked about the scope of “neglect” in the state’s maltreatment reporting, workforce strategies, and how nonrecurring pilot funding will be evaluated and whether recurring appropriations will follow. Analysts said many of the GAA appropriations are pilots with evaluation requirement language; they noted appropriators favored multiyear pilots to increase oversight and to study whether programs perform before rolling them into the recurring operating budget.

Ending: Staff said they plan follow‑up hearings with cabinet secretaries and agency leaders to review implementation details and rule‑making timelines for SB42 and related measures. Committee members requested more detailed implementation plans and agreed to additional briefings.