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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Papen
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1-21-06
HB
SHORT TITLE
GRANDPARENTS & KINSHIP CAREGIVER
SUPPORT
SB 270
ANALYST Lucero
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
$405.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates HB87,
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Children, Youth and Family Department (CYFD)
Aging and Long Term Care Department (ALTCD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 270 appropriates $405.0 from the GENERAL FUND for expenditure in FY 07 to
Children, Youth and Family Department for the purpose of supporting grandparents and kinship
caregivers.
This bill specifies:
$75.0 for staff, travel and support for an advisory committee on grandparents and kinship
caregivers.
$80.0 to create a kinship caregivers web site.
$250.0 to contract with legal services to support kinship caregivers’ efforts to establish
legal relationships between children and caregivers for children who would otherwise en-
ter the foster care system.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
pg_0002
Senate Bill 270 – Page
2
This bill contains the recommendations in SJM50 from the 2005 legislative session. The appro-
priation amounts in this bill match those as submitted in the SJM 50 report of November 2005.
Of the $250,000 in this bill earmarked for legal services, $200,000 was recommended in the ex-
ecutive’s budget to go to ALTSD. HAFC has adopted the Exec budget recommendations for
ALTSD; therefore $200,000 of the $250,000 is already funded.
The appropriation of $405,000 contained in this bill is a RECURRING expense to the
GENERAL FUND. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 07
shall revert to the GENERAL FUND.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
ALTCD provides the following comment:
“When parents are not able to care for their children or when parental care results in
abuse or neglect, it is the responsibility of the state to provide for the safety of the
children. In New Mexico, where the culture of the extended family is strong, grand-
parents, siblings and other relatives frequently assume the parenting responsibilities
for periods of time ranging from a few days to a lifetime. This familial solution pro-
vides children with a connection to their family of origin and reduces the financial
and administrative burden on the state, but it frequently adds a severe financial,
physical, and emotional burden on elderly family members. The purpose of SJM 50
is to research the impact of these familial arrangements on both children and caregiv-
ers and assure that these families receive the support services the state would other-
wise be providing for these children by CYFD, ALTSD other state agencies.
In New Mexico, there are 41,085 children living in grandparent-headed households
(8.1% of all the children in the state). There are another 10,572 children living in
households headed by other relatives (2.1% of all the children in the state).
In New Mexico, 54,041 grandparents report they are responsible for their grandchil-
dren living with them [4,272 in Albuquerque]: 2% of these grandparents are African
American; 53% are Hispanic/Latino; 20% are American Indian or Alaskan Native;
and 23% are White. 30% of these grandparents live in households without the chil-
dren’s parents present.”
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The bill appropriates $80.0 to create a kinship caregiver web site; however, it does not provide
for on-going maintenance and administrative costs to keep the web site going after 2007. The
language may want to be changed to “create and support” a kinship caregiver web site or else
CYFD would have to absorb any additional administrative costs.
There is $250,000 dedicated for legal services in this bill that the executive recommended in the
base ALTSD recommendation. HAFC, having adopted the executive recommendation for
ALTSD, has funded most of the legal service need.
pg_0003
Senate Bill 270 – Page
3
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
Duplicates House Bill 87
TECHNICAL ISSUES
The bill appropriates $75,000 for staff, travel and support for an advisory committee on grand-
parents and kinship caregivers. The bill does not specify who should be on the advisory commit-
tee or who would be the committee lead. SJM50 recommends a standing committee composed
of staff from Aging and Long Term Care Department, Children, Youth and Family Department,
Human Services Department, Public Education Department, Department of Corrections, Admin-
istrative Office of the Courts.
If most of the legal fees have been “covered” in the HAFC adoption of the executive recommen-
dation, the allocation of funds in this bill can be reduced or reallocated. If the appropriation is
not reduced or reallocated, then the legal fees will have been appropriated twice, once to CYFD
and once to ALTSD.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
This bill does not specify whether the children identified in the bill must be in the custody of
CYFD, involved in the judicial system, or simply living with the grandparents or kinship care-
givers.
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
Status Quo
DL/nt