Hunger & Poverty Issues at the State Legislature

On Saturday, March 5, Ruth Hoffman from the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry New Mexico provides updates related to hunger, poverty and food-related issues before the New Mexico State Legislature in Santa Fe.

• A New Mexico state program provides supplemental SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) benefits for seniors who are eligible for minimal assistance under federal rules.  The funding ($1 million) for this program has been eliminated in HB2 as it currently stands. We are advocating for $1 million in funding for this program. 
• SJM7 (Sen. Cynthia Nava) asks the Public Education Department to convene a task force to study children’s access to proper nutrition.  SJM7 has passed the Senate and is now in the House Education Committee.
•  SB144 (Sen. Cynthia Nava) would require all school districts to establish breakfast programs in their elementary schools and that it be served during the school day. S144 is now on the Senate Floor Calendar.
• Affordable Housing & Homelessness: HJM22 (Sen. John Ryan & Rep. Bill O’Neill) asks Gov.  Susana Martinez to implement an Interagency Council on Child Homelessness. HJM22 has passed the House Appropriations & Finance Committee and is on the House Floor Calendar.  
  SB177 (Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino) would allow local municipalities and counties to ask voters to increase property taxes to create a local housing fund. SB177 was amended in the Senate Corporations Committee so that it only applies to Santa Fe County and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.
  
  Family-Sustaining Income 
  Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-NM is advocating that deeper cuts not be made to the funding for programs that help low-income families.  Those programs include General Assistance,Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (cuts to monthly assistance amounts and other TANF programs have already been made), child care assistance (cuts have already been made to eligibility and copayments for families have been increased), and programs for people experiencing homelessness. HB2 includes adequate funding for the General Assistance program and further cuts to the TANF program. The funding for programs that assistance people experiencing homelessness has not been cut. The funding for child care assistance in the House's version of HB2 is insufficient to maintain the program at current levels.  SB72 (Sen. Tim Keller) would not allow employers to consider credit scores in hiring except when there is a real occupational requirement for doing so. SB72 has been tabled in the Senate Corporations Committee.  See Action Alert below---  
  SJR10 (Sen. Cynthia Nava) would propose a constitutional amendment for voter approval in 2012 that would designate a small percentage of the Land Grant Permanent Fund to fund early childhood care and education programs in our state. Those programs would include quality child care assistance.  SJR 10 passed the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.  
  Action Alert: Please take a few minutes to call the members of the Senate Finance Committee and ask them to support SJR10 which proposes a constitutional amendment for voter approval in 2012 that would designate a small percentage of the Land Grant Permanent Fund to fund early childhood care and education programs in our state. Those programs would include quality child care assistance. The members of Senate Finance and their telephone numbers are below:
  
  

  Sen. John Arthur Smith, Chair -- 505-986-4365

  Sen. Carlos Cisneros -- 505-986-4362

  Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort -- 505-986-4395

  Sen. Rod Adair -- 505-986-4385

  Sen. Pete Campos -- 505-986-4311

  Sen. Carroll Leavell -- 505-986-4278

  Sen. Howie Morales -- 505-986-4863

  Sen. Steven Neville -- 505-986-4701

  Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino -- 505-986-4380

  Sen. Mary Kay Papen -- 505-986-4270

  Sen. Nancy Rodriguez -- 505-986-4264