HB2 is the state’s General Appropriation Act for fiscal year 2024, allocating funding across multiple sectors. It designates approximately $1.96 billion for health services, including Medicaid and other programs through the new Health Care Authority Department. The bill also increases funding for natural-resources agencies such as the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, as well as the Environment Department. In commerce and industry, it allocates $13.5 million for the Local Economic Development Act and $175 million for expanding the opportunity enterprise fund. Judicial and public-safety agencies also receive budget increases for staffing and equipment. Additionally, it provides for a 4% salary raise for public and school employees, with over $127 million earmarked for school employees and $87 million for state and higher education staff. The act includes $1.13 billion for nonrecurring special appropriations and $126 million to supplement the 2024 operating budget.
The New Mexico State Senate passed HB2 on February 12, 2024 by a vote of 31 to 10. We have assigned pluses to the nays because these appropriations are a gross abuse of taxpayer spending. Funding Medicaid, expanding bureaucratic agencies, and pouring millions into economic development schemes are not the proper roles of government. From healthcare funding to embracing false climate-change narratives, these spending items should be cut down to nothing.
