Committee advances memorial asking lawmakers to map domestic-violence funding streams

Senate Memorial 22 requests the Legislative Finance Committee convene a working group with the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), Department of Finance and Administration and service providers to map how federal and state funds for domestic-violence survivor services are allocated and administered.

Sen. Charlie introduced the memorial and Mary Ellen Garcia, chief executive officer of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, testified that providers have struggled with fragmented funding streams, administrative timelines that do not align with crisis response, and a lack of transparency. Garcia said the coalition's public-records review found a divergence between fiscal-impact reports and provider experience: the fiscal impact report reports $18,400,000 in federal and state allocations, but provider-supplied reports show about $16,000,000. She also said direct survivor-services state appropriations fell from $15.1 million to $13.9 million for fiscal years 2024–26.

Garcia told the committee that CYFD's prior solicitations and award practices this past year had negative consequences for some tribal and indigenous providers and that providers need clearer oversight and distribution processes. Committee members asked for detail on which programs and funding streams feed survivor services and discussed whether CYFD is the right home for these programs or whether some would be better placed elsewhere for oversight.

Senators and Garcia agreed mapping and a robust task force of providers and data will be needed; the committee moved a due pass on the memorial to request the Legislative Finance Committee study the issue further.