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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Lawmakers Adjourn Special Session

By Barry Massey And Deborah Baker
Associated Press
      SANTA FE — Lawmakers adjourned a special session on Tuesday after approving tax relief, health care and highway construction measures.
    Final approval was given to a health care expansion for uninsured children but the proposal was trimmed substantially from what Gov. Bill Richardson had sought.
    The Legislature also approved and sent to the governor $200 million for highway construction and a $56 million one-time tax rebate.
    Lawmakers provided $32 million for health care programs, including $20 million to expand Medicaid and another program to cover an estimated 17,000 uninsured children. Richardson asked lawmakers to spend $58 million to expand the health programs to try to reach an estimated 50,000 children without medical insurance.
    Richardson had proposed mandating health insurance for New Mexico children and making insurance reforms, but lawmakers rejected those provisions.
    Richardson called the special session for lawmakers to consider health care proposals and an economic relief package to help New Mexican with rising household expenses, including food and fuel. The session started Friday and lawmakers met through the weekend.
    Also given final approval Tuesday were measures to:
    —Permanently increase the state's "working families tax credit." The proposal will cost about $7.6 million and provide an average increase in benefits of $38 for families earning less than about $42,000 a year. About 200,000 families receive the state's tax credit.
    —$1.9 million for a program that helps pay heating and cooling bills for low-income New Mexicans.
    —$5 million in emergency assistance for flood damage in Lincoln and Otero counties and the Ruidoso area.
    —$4 million for school districts to help pay for higher school bus fuel costs.

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