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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Salazar

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1-26-06

HB 125

SHORT TITLE Pre & Postnatal Care to First-Time Parents

SB

ANALYST Lucero

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$2,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates,Relates to,Conflicts with, Companion to

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act – HAFC is recommending $500.0

recurring and $1,000.0 non-recurring.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Developmental Disabilities Planning Council

Department of Health (DOH)

SUMMARY

House Bill 125 appropriates $2,000.0 from the GENERAL FUND for expenditure in 2007 to

Children, Youth and Families Department for the purpose of providing prenatal and postnatal

home visitation services in certain counties throughout the state to families giving birth to a first

child.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $2,000.0 contained in this bill is a RECURRING expense to the GENERAL

FUND. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of 2007 shall revert to

the GENERAL FUND.

House Bill 125 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The NM Developmental Disabilities Planning Council believes:

Prenatal and postnatal home visiting could help identify potential at-risk pregnancies

and/or developmental delays after a child is born. This could result in early interven-

tion services being provided that improve outcomes for both children and families.

According to the NM Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (NM PRAMS)

through the Department of Health, teens are more likely to give birth to premature in-

fants and low-birth weight infants. Many programs support teens with prenatal and

postpartum interventions, but these services do not reach most new teen mothers.

NM PRAMS also reports that 29% of new mothers in NM had late entry to prenatal

care or no prenatal care at all. In addition, only 5% of women received a home visit-

ing service during pregnancy and only 9% had any after delivery. Home visiting can

improve parenting, maternal and infant outcomes, appropriate use of primary and

preventive health care and long term health outcomes for infants, toddlers, and chil-

dren.

CYFD is committed to improving the health and development of New Mexico children and fami-

lies through voluntary Newborn Welcome visits with families. This strategy provides access to

resources that are expected to improve the intellectual, emotional and physiological health and

development of children from birth. According to the CYFD website their Teen Parent Service

Program is currently in operation in Silver City, Santa Fe, Roswell, Clovis/Portales, Las Cruces,

Farmington, and Grants. This program does not provide prenatal services.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

Overall health and human service performance measures may be positively impacted. The Silver

City program has experience few unwanted pregnancies and improved social outcomes from

their program.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

CYFD will absorb any additional administrative costs.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

Relationship: HAFC is recommending a $500.0 recurring base appropriation for Home Visiting.

HAFC is also recommending $1,000.0 non-recurring special appropriation for Home Visiting.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

In FY06 CYFD piloted the Welcome Baby home visiting program. The Department plans on

change the focus and direction of the pilot to a more intensive paraprofessional model. With

HAFC recommending a total of $1,500.0 for home visiting, it may be pre-mature to add addi-

tional funding during the early stages of the pilot.

House Bill 125 – Page

3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

A child’s development in the first three years of life is crucial to accomplishments in school,

work and life. Home visiting by professionals and paraprofessionals to support parents during

those first three years of life are the best method to make a positive difference in children’s de-

velopment. Children of first time parent(s) are at increased risk of poor outcomes associated with

unmet needs for family support, inexperience, single parenthood, teen parenthood; and poor

child care including abuse or neglect.

A model for home visiting to reduce the impact of these issues has been developed and imple-

mented in the last few years by the health and social services community in Silver City and has

proven very effective. HB 125 would support extending that community-based model to addi-

tional counties.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Families giving birth to their first child would not have access to information on parenting and

child growth and development that this program would provide.

DL/yr