SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 26

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Mark Boitano

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE FAMILY PRESERVATION INSTITUTE AT NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY TO PREPARE FAMILY IMPACT STATEMENTS ON SELECTED LEGISLATION.

     WHEREAS, the family is the basic social and economic unit of society, serving as the primary source of values and education for children and as the catalyst for the development of community and national interests; and

     WHEREAS, families generally are able to determine for themselves how best to promote better family functioning; and

     WHEREAS, quality family life enhances employee productivity and reduces turnover and absenteeism in school and the workplace; and

     WHEREAS, the state has a role in supporting and strengthening the healthy functioning of families by coordinating services and developing policies that support and strengthen families; and

     WHEREAS, policymakers should be sensitive to the ethnic diversity of New Mexico and cognizant of differences between rural and urban families and the difficulties rural families have in accessing services; and

     WHEREAS, family impact analysis has been employed since the 1980s to evaluate the impact of various public policies on families; and

     WHEREAS, policymakers should consider the impact on families when setting policy, taking care to be sensitive to diversity in family needs and dynamics and to the desire and ability of family members to care for their children, elderly relatives or other family members; and

     WHEREAS, policies should promote the opportunity for family members to be together for better family functioning; and

     WHEREAS, policies should promote work and community environments that ensure that a family can meet its health, educational, social and economic responsibilities and reinforce the family as the constant in people's lives; and

     WHEREAS, the family preservation institute at New Mexico state university is uniquely qualified to assess the impact of various proposed policies on families;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that New Mexico state university's family preservation institute be requested to prepare family impact statements on a regular basis on legislation it believes may affect, either positively or negatively, families in New Mexico and that it make those family impact statements available to the legislature in coordination with the legislative council service; and

      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be delivered to the family preservation institute at New Mexico state university and the director of the legislative council service.

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