Despite vetoed funding, AG plans to prop up new child-focused oversight office

SANTA FE — A new office tasked with providing outside oversight of New Mexico’s child welfare agency will set up shop this summer with just a fraction of its proposed state funding.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week used her line-item veto authority to ax $1 million in start-up funding that lawmakers had appropriated in a state budget bill for the new Office of the Child Advocate.

She also vetoed a separate $650,000 appropriation for the office, but left intact a similar earmark in a different part of the spending bill.

While advocates have expressed concern about the vetoes’ impact, Attorney General Raúl Torrez does not plan to let the governor’s actions snuff out the plan.

A spokeswoman for the Democratic attorney general said Torrez has already authorized the state Department of Justice to make up the budget shortfall for the newly created office, which will be administratively attached to the agency.

“We intend to keep working with our partners in the Legislature to ensure adequate funding for the Office of the Child Advocate as its important work gets underway and will continue to advocate for children’s civil rights with or without the governor’s support,” Torrez’s chief of staff Lauren Rodriguez told the Journal.

She also said the Department of Justice was “profoundly disappointed” by Lujan Grisham’s vetoes and her resistance to outside oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department.

During the final days of this year’s 60-day legislative session, Lujan Grisham signed into law the creation of the new Office of the Child Advocate, which a bipartisan group of lawmakers had pushed for years to establish.

But the signing of House Bill 5 came after the governor worked with senators to make changes to the legislation. She also released a blistering message upon signing the bill in which she criticized legislators and the first-term attorney general alike.

“Make no mistake about it, this bill was not designed to protect children,” Lujan Grisham said at the time, while accusing lawmakers and Torrez of pushing the legislation as part of a political vendetta.

The governor and CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados have in recent years staunchly opposed outside oversight of the agency, saying such action could damage employee morale and lead to a fractious relationship between the two government entities.

But backers of the legislation have insisted changes were necessary amid CYFD’s struggles to reverse chronic staff shortages and an increase in the state’s rate of repeat child mistreatment.

The new Office of the Child Advocate will hit the state’s books in July and will be tasked with reviewing CYFD’s handling of cases and investigating complaints filed on behalf of children in state custody. A telephone hotline will be set up to help process such complaints, among other steps.

In addition, the office will be led by a director to be appointed by the governor, who will pick from a list of names approved by a selection committee.

A Lujan Grisham spokesman pointed out Tuesday the governor left $650,000 in the budget bill intact so that the new office can be established.

“The Office of the Child Advocate can come back to the Legislature in the next budget cycle and request additional funding based on its needs, but $650,000 is enough to get started,” Lujan Grisham spokesman Michael Coleman said.

He did not elaborate on the governor’s rationale behind the funding vetoes, but said CYFD would continue its work on behalf of New Mexico children and families until the new office is up and running.