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Subcommittee watches New Mexico video on performance-based budgeting; chair urges Montana study
Summary
The Section A Subcommittee viewed a video from New Mexico showing how that state uses program evaluation and performance reporting to shape budgets. Chair Falk said the presentation offers a model for deeper budget oversight and highlighted examples where evaluation changed spending decisions.
Members of the Section A Subcommittee of the 2025 Montana Legislature opened the meeting with a brief video and discussion about performance-based budgeting drawn from New Mexico’s Legislative Finance Committee.
Chair Debra Falk said she asked that the video be shown because it ‘‘was super informative’’ and that she had selected a roughly 16-minute excerpt for the committee. The recording, she said, originally aired in a Legislative Finance Committee meeting and included a presentation and an extended question-and-answer session.
The video presenter, identified in the transcript only as the Presenter (New Mexico legislative staff, video), described how New Mexico organized program evaluation inside its legislative fiscal office and tied performance data to budget decisions. The presenter said the state created a legislative program-evaluation unit in the late 1980s, and later developed quarterly reporting and scorecards to compare agency results against targets.
‘‘We appropriated money, for kids to get additional learning time, when they were 4 year old in a pre k program. Did that help better prepare them for kindergarten?’’ the Presenter asked, summarizing how lawmakers used outcome monitoring to judge spending. The presenter also recounted a corrections program that ‘‘was implementing an evidence based service’’ but was not delivering results because it was being run inconsistently — ‘‘Flat out failure,’’ the Presenter said — and was later replaced after evaluation.
The Presenter described a 2019 law requiring agencies to inventory programs and budgets to identify spending on evidence-based services. That inventory, the presenter said, is used to prioritize budget requests and to shift funds from programs with little evidence of effectiveness toward programs with research support.
Chair Falk framed the video as part of a longer-term effort to improve the committee’s oversight tools. She told members she hoped the committee could use similar scorecards and program-evaluation products to inform Montana’s budget process and invited members to request the full recording and handouts.
No formal action was taken on the topic during the meeting. Chair Falk said the video was being shown as informational and that staff could provide the full presentation to members who wanted it.
The discussion preceded the committee’s detailed executive actions on internal service rates for state agencies.
Why it matters: The talk highlighted an approach that links performance measurement and program evaluation to appropriation decisions. Committee members expressed interest in using data and evaluations for longer-term oversight, though they did not adopt any new rules or statutory changes in this session.
What’s next: Chair Falk said the video and handout could inform future committee work; she encouraged members to review the material and consider whether Montana should expand internal evaluation capacity or require similar program inventories in budget requests.
