Welcome to the Governor's Office Blog

On this page, you will find behind-the scenes information on current events, news conferences, the 2009 Legislature and much more.  Bloggers will include Governor Richardson, Cabinet Secretaries and representatives from the Governor’s Office.  Check back regularly for the latest news.

October 27, 2009

Governor Richardson Asks for Input on the Budget Bills from New Mexicans

Governor Richardson spent three hours today meeting with the over 100 New Mexicans who showed up for his budget office hours at the State Capitol.  The more than 40 groups came to the Governor with a variety of concerns including cuts to education, law enforcement, behavioral health, and other Medicaid programs.  Teachers, law enforcement officers and other advocates talked to the Governor about how proposed budget cuts would directly affect them and the New Mexicans they serve. Counties all over the state were represented including Luna, San Juan, Grant, McKinley, Bernalillo and Santa Fe.

The Governor has announced that he will offer additional open office hours for New Mexicans in other parts of the state.  Those dates will be released in the near future.

The Governor has until November 12^th to sign, veto or partially veto the budget bills.

Here is a tally of the budget cut input we have received by phone and email:

• Medicaid Cuts: 171 emails against cuts to Medicaid programs

• 7.6% Agency Cuts: 221 con / 5 pro

• Tax Increases (variety of ideas): 38 pro / 2 con

• Education Cuts: 40 con / 13 pro

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES?

Despite assurances from legislative leaders, such as Sen. John Arthur Smith, that Medicaid programs would survive budget cuts relatively unscathed, the state Human Services Department has found that the opposite is true.

In fact, thousands of children and New Mexicans with behavioral health needs could lose access to health care coverage.

Did the Legislature intend to cut off health care for children and low-income people who require mental health substance abuse services? Or is this an example of unintended consequences resulting from an attempted power grab by the Legislature?

Either way, the cuts included in the budget bill passed last week could have dire consequences for many New Mexicans.

How did this happen? Back in March, when the Legislature passed a budget for 2010, overzealous lawmakers on the budget committees decided to split the Medicaid budget into three distinct programs, rather than one overarching program. Legislators wanted to pry away control over spending from the Human Services Secretary and micromanage Medicaid spending.

The Human Services Department resisted the legislative power grab, and ultimately negotiated a compromise. However, the budget bill, HB2, still has language that splits the money into the three pots – Behavioral Health services; Medicaid physical health managed care; and Medical assistance.

And the budget cuts to state agencies in HB 17, passed during the special session, point back to HB 2 when discussing the Medicaid budget. The exception is the $220 million in the Medical Assistance program, which appears to be protected from cuts.

The bottom line is HB 17 applies the 7.6 percent budget cut to two major portions of the Medicaid budget – the Medicaid physical health managed care; and the Behavioral Health services – slicing nearly $38 million in state funding.

Those cuts would also affect the matching federal matching dollars, which are considerably higher. The result: $153 million in “drastic” cuts to services to New Mexicans.

October 26, 2009

EXECUTIVE VS LEGISLATIVE CUTS

For more than a year, the executive agencies under the control of the Governor have been cutting expenses, operating under a hiring freeze and turning down salary increases. Governor Richardson, in October 2008, urged others in state government – the Legislature, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and the judiciary – to make similar cuts. The Governor has no control over spending in those agencies.

Did those agencies make any budget cuts? Did they freeze hiring and forgo salary increases? Nobody would know from the media coverage of the budget during the past year. There has been little or no scrutiny of those budgets.

Yet, the Legislature in its budget bill passed last week, singled out the Governor-controlled agencies for the most drastic budget cuts (7.6 percent) in order to balance the current-year budget. That’s on top of the 6.4% cut to this year’s operating budget implemented last session – meaning most agencies could face a potential 14 percent cut in just one year.

There was talk about sacrifices on the legislative side, but the resulting cuts (4 percent) were considerably lower. The Attorney General and other agencies also escaped serious cuts.

The Legislature also targeted the Governor’s exempt employees, obviously for political reasons not related to overall budget savings.

Governor Richardson’s first action a year ago was to cut exempt salaries by 2 percent, while he fought against cutting salaries for other employees. No other elected official, including legislators, have cut salaries for any of the exempt employees under their control.

In fact, the Legislature handed out pay raises – one as high as 17 percent – for 33 exempt employees since October 2008. The Legislature also hired or rehired 126 employees during that time period, although that includes session hires.

As of September 2009, the Legislature had all 164 positions filled with no vacancies. The Governor’s Office, alone, has a 25-percent vacancy rate.

Legislative leaders may have good reasons for hiring new employees and boosting the salaries of others. But apparently nobody in the news media has bothered to find out.

October 22, 2009

Hiring Freeze 

Earlier this week, Governor Richardson highlighted the fact that he trimmed the number of state employees by nearly 1,300 since he put a hiring freeze nearly a year ago. That hiring freeze, by the way, was one of the Governor’s first actions when the world economy started its downward spiral. He took that action long before the Legislature took any action to deal with budget shortfalls.

But apparently some Republican legislators refuse to acknowledge the reality that state government is doing more with fewer people in order to cut costs. Those legislators seized on an erroneous “draft” report that the State Personnel Office provided to legislative staffers. The Personnel Office has since determined that a computer programming flaw resulted in incorrect numbers.

But the mere suggestion that the Governor’s hiring freeze has been ineffective was good enough for those legislators to rush to the media to say: “We told you so.” Unfortunately, they didn’t bother to verify their facts.

The simple fact is this: Between the effective date of the hiring freeze (Nov. 15, 2008) and Oct. 18, 2009, there have been 718 new hires and 2,015 separations – meaning a net reduction of 1,279 employees.

A quick look at some executive agencies shows:

• Office of the Governor – 10 vacancies (25% vacancy rate)
• Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management – 18 vacancies (23.7% vacancy rate)
• Department of Information Technology-41 vacancies (22% vacancy rate)
• Public Education Department-66 vacancies (21% vacancy rate)
• Department of Transportation – 421 vacancies (15.5% vacancy rate)
• Department of Game & Fish – 43 vacancies (14% vacancy rate)

October 21, 2009

Setting the Record Straight on Exempt Employees

Some critics, including uninformed legislators, have grossly exaggerated the increase in exempt positions during the Richardson administration, and it’s time to set the record straight.

Let’s start with where we were before Governor Richardson took office and where we are today.

In Governor Gary Johnson’s FY02 exempt salary plan there were a total of 349 exempt employees under his control. Today, there are 450 exempt employees, reflecting a modest increase over seven years.

Even that increase is deceiving when you consider the fact one agency created by the Legislature – the Public School Facilities Authority – has grown from 15 exempt employees to 54. The Governor doesn’t appoint any of these employees, yet they are classified as “Governor exempt.”

In any case, the number of exempt employees under Governor Richardson’s administration represents only 2-percent of the total workforce – as was the case under the Johnson administration.

Despite claims to the contrary, exempt positions have not grown since Governor Richardson ordered a hiring freeze in November 2008. In fact, there has been a 4-percent reduction in exempt employees during that 11-month time period. And all of the Governor’s current exempt employees received a 2-percent pay cut during the past year.

October 20, 2009

Fiscal Record

Much has been made during the special session about the level of spending during the Richardson Administration.

But the same legislators who are critical of spending during the past seven years are conveniently forgetting important details about those budgets, including the overwhelmingly support from the Legislature for each of those spending plans.

First, the state saw record revenue coming in, particularly from oil and gas. However, Governor Richardson, working with the Legislature, spent a major portion of that extra money on one-time projects, rather than on-going initiatives.

Governor Richardson also led the effort, again working with the Legislature, to return as much money as possible to taxpayers. More than $1 billion in tax cuts were passed – much of that to help create new jobs and the rest to help working New Mexico families.

How about the ongoing initiatives? Governor Richardson, working with the Legislature invested in the top priorities, such as $1 billion in classroom spending. The vast majority of that went toward salaries, particularly teacher salaries – which moved New Mexico from the bottom of the national rankings to a more competitive salary level.

And what was the Legislature’s role in crafting and passing the past seven budgets for state government? Here is how legislators voted on the main budget bills for each of the past seven years:

2009
House 45-25
Senate 35-5

2008
House 57-10
Senate 36-4

2007
House 48-20
Senate 33-5

2006
House 68-0
Senate 39-2

2005
House 66-3
Senate 35-3

2004
House 54-14
Senate 31-18

2003
House 43-20
Senate 38-0