Legislative Finance Committee

State agencies and judicial entities are requesting about $1.3 billion for more than 100 construction and equipment projects, with the Health, General Services, and Energy, Mineral and Natural Resources departments each asking for more than $100 million.

Almost $585 million in requests from colleges and universities make up the largest dollar amount of the total of $2.7 billion in requests for one-time appropriation from state agencies and higher education institutions, with the $474 million in requests from environmental agencies a close second.

Road conditions deteriorated in 2024 compared with 2023 but the Transportation Department has moved quickly to get more resources into the system, with $95 million spent or committed between March and October.

The Rail Runner has had a strong comeback from its pandemic shutdown but additional increases will be hard in sparsely populated New Mexico and improvements that improve ridership are expensive.

Assets in the three permanent funds managed by the State Investment Council have more than doubled in the last five years, but the severance tax permanent fund performance has lagged, largely because it feeds an equity fund for New Mexico businesses.

Ten years after filing separate lawsuits challenging the sufficiency of New Mexico public schools, the plaintiffs in the consolidated Martinez-Yazzie lawsuit are asking the court to direct legislative staff to draft a remediation plan.

Creating buffer zones around new oil and gas wells would eat into production, but while the immediate financial impact would be limited, the reduced production could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars within five years,

While New Mexico continues to be a profitable state for property insurers, almost half of homes and buildings are in areas at risk for wildfire damage and mitigation should be focused on those areas to keep insurance affordable.