Our Legislative Policy Priorities

Because changing public policies can take time, we often must work on the same priority policies over the course of several years. And even when a policy win is achieved for New Mexico families and children, the work is not ended. We often work to improve upon existing policies and must fight against other proposals that would end or water them down. Below are lists of specific polices we worked on over the past several years, organized by legislative sessions. (For a longer list of policy wins – and what they mean for New Mexico’s children and families – see Our Impact page here.)

2024 Regular Legislative Session

Our 2024 Policy Priorities

Family Economic Security

  • Improve wages and economic supports for low-income families
  • Enact a paid family and medical leave program
  • Address child hunger and strengthen food security

Cradle-to-Career Education

  • Increase funding for early childhood care and education services and implement a wage and career ladder for early childhood providers
  • Protect the Early Childhood Trust Fund from being used for programs that do not serve young children
  • Increase targeted K-12 funding to support students named in the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit
  • Create a Tribal Education Trust Fund
  • Fully fund the Opportunity Scholarship

Healthy and Safe Communities

Tax Fairness and Budget Adequacy

2024 Coalition Policy Priorities

Family Economic Security

  • Increase TANF cash benefits
  • Provide assistance for families in transition from fossil fuels jobs
  • Address housing stability and affordability

Cradle-to-Career Education

  • Fully fund child care assistance to maintain $0 co-pays for parents and pay increases for teachers
  • More state accountability in responding to the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit
  • Ensure smaller class sizes
  • Strengthen the educator pipeline and improve teacher training programs
  • Increase investments in workforce development and training and ensure these opportunities are available and accessible to all New Mexicans

Healthy and Safe Communities

  • Ensure full funding of Medicaid and the Developmental Disabilities Waiver
  • Improve access to affordable health care coverage through the Medicaid Forward plan
  • Fully fund New Mexico Health Councils

2023 Regular Legislative Session

  • Download our post-session presentation on what happened during the 2023 legislative session (April 20, 2023; 28 slides; pdf)
  • Download our fact sheet on what happened during the 2023 regular legislative session (April 2023; 4 pages; pdf)
  • Download our policy priorities (Updated Jan. 2023; 2 pages; pdf)
  • Download our tax policy priorities (Nov. 2022; 2 pages; pdf)
  • Link to our blog on our policy priorities written as New Year’s resolutions

2022 Regular Legislative Session

  • Download our post-session presentation on what happened during the 2022 regular legislative session (March 2022; 28 pages; pdf)
  • Download our fact sheet on what happened during the 2022 regular legislative session (March 2022; 2 pages; pdf)
  • Download our policy priorities (Dec. 2021; 2 pages; pdf)

2021 Regular Legislative Session

  • Download our post-session presentation on what happened during the 2021 regular legislative session (April 2021; 27 pages; pdf)
  • Download our fact sheet on what happened during the 2021 regular legislative session (March 2021; 2 pages; pdf)
  • Download our policy priorities (Nov. 2020; 2 pages; pdf)

2020 Special Legislative Session

  • Download our fact sheet on what happened during the 2020 special legislative session (July 2020; 2 pages; pdf)
  • Download our policy priorities (May 2020; 2 pages; pdf)

2019 Regular Legislative Session

  • Download our fact sheet on what happened during the 2019 regular legislative session (March 2019; 2 pages; pdf)
  • Download our policy priorities (Dec. 2018; 2 pages; pdf)