Press Releases & Media Statements

If the statewide minimum wage was raised to $8.50 an hour—as currently proposed in Senate Joint Resolution 13 (SJR-13)—it would impact more than 91,000 workers outside of the city of Santa Fe and Bernalillo County (which already have minimum wages at $8.50 or higher).

Legislation enacted in 2003 that allows New Mexicans with capital gains income to deduct half of that income from their state taxes has failed as an economic development tool.

The 2013 New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book, released today at the state Capitol, recommends policy changes to address New Mexico’s fall to 50th in the nation in child well-being.

New Mexico’s state and local tax system is already unfair—with the lowest-income New Mexicans paying a rate double that of the highest income earners. A so-called ‘Flat Tax’ or consumption bill, such as the one introduced in the 2013 legislative session by Rep. Tom Taylor (HB-369) and Sen. William Sharer (SB-368), would make the tax system even more regressive.

Building on decades of research on child development and achievement, a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that the best investment strategies for improving our children’s educational outcomes are being underfunded across the nation.

In response to New Mexico’s fall to dead last in the nation in child well-being in the national KIDS COUNT Data Book, New Mexico Voices for Children has launched a policy campaign to improve child well-being. Advocates hope the campaign, called NM KIDS are COUNTing on Us, will be embraced by elected officials and other leaders. “New Mexico has real problems when it comes to the well-being of our children, but they are not insurmountable,” said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., Executive Director of the child advocacy organization.

New Mexico ranks fifth worst in the nation in how deep it has cut spending on K-12 education on a per-student, inflation-adjusted basis since the start of the recession. These cuts deepened the recession, slowed the recovery, and will make New Mexico less prosperous in the future. A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) shows that New Mexico cut $874 per student in inflation-adjusted spending between fiscal years 2008 and 2014.

Despite a recent uptick in lottery ticket sales, the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship Trust Fund will be almost empty by the end of the current fiscal year unless the Legislature acts in the coming session. The solvency of the fund would be improved if the Legislature were to limit the scholarship to students who could otherwise not afford college, according to a new report by New Mexico Voices for Children. But rebuilding the trust fund is not the only reason the scholarship should be changed to need-based aid.

442,000 people in New Mexico will see a cut in their food assistance benefits this fall, when a temporary boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) is set to expire, according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) discussed in a new report from the Washington, DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

For the first time New Mexico has fallen to the bottom slot—ranking 50^th in the nation in overall child well-being in the 2013 national KIDS COUNT Data Book. New Mexico has never ranked above 40^th in the publication’s 20-plus year history, but this is the first time the state has ranked dead last. Last year, New Mexico ranked 49^th and Mississippi at 50^th.