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Adjutant general seeks funding to expand Guard disaster capability, defends Albuquerque and Española support
Summary
Adjutant General told lawmakers the National Guard needs $2 million to staff community emergency response teams (23 positions for swift‑water rescue and mitigation), $1.5 million to expand a summer challenge youth program, and described Guard operations in Albuquerque and Española as state‑active duty support roles that do not exercise arrest powers.
Adjutant General General Aguilar briefed the interim committee on the Department of Military Affairs’ near‑term priorities and ongoing operations in Albuquerque and the Española Valley.
Aguilar said the department will ask the legislature for two targeted expansions: $2 million to fund around 23 Guard members on state active duty to sustain community emergency‑response capabilities such as swift‑water rescue and other mitigation work, and $1.5 million to expand a governor‑backed summer challenge program to run five sites beyond Albuquerque. "This would allow us to be able to go out and support those communities," Aguilar said, describing the need created by increasingly frequent floods and fires.
He also updated members on Guard operations in Albuquerque and Española conducted under executive order and state active‑duty status. Aguilar said roughly 150 guardsmen were deployed in support roles in Albuquerque to free up police officers for patrol and calls for service; the Guard personnel are not wielding arrest powers and chiefly provide observation, presence and non‑law‑enforcement assistance. "They don't have law enforcement powers," he said. "They call law enforcement officers, and then they come and take action."
Aguilar told the committee that the DMA is working to expand premium health‑care support for Guardsmen who qualify for TRICARE Select Reserve and that a small number of Guard attorneys would be placed on state active duty to help process misdemeanor and arraignment work in jurisdictions with thin prosecution resources.
Committee members asked about Guard recruitment and retention, whether Guardsmen are armed in support deployments (Aguilar said they are not), funding conversations with the Legislative Finance Committee, and the criteria for choosing summer‑challenge sites and Guard community assignments. Aguilar said the department is consulting the Public Education Department and local districts for site decisions and is pursuing statutory and operational steps to scale the programs.
Lawmakers expressed broad support for the Guard’s emergency‑response proposal and for youth programming, while raising questions about oversight, training for technical rescue missions and relationships with tribal governments in the Española Valley.
