The state Senate today approved smaller tax rebates than those proposed by Gov. Bill Richardson and a scaled back health-care bill, again rejecting the governor’s plan.
On a vote of 36-2, the Senate approved a bill that would give more than 700,000 taxpayers rebates. Each person making $30,000 per year would receive $50 under the bill approved by the Senate.
“This funding provides New Mexico’s single mothers, senior citizens and people having trouble making ends meet some relief,” Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, D-Albuquerque and the bill’s sponsor, said in a news release. “Higher prices at the gasoline pump and higher food costs at the grocery store are placing a tremendous burden our single-parent and working-parent families. This funding will help our most vulnerable families living from paycheck to paycheck.”
The bill would provide $56 million in rebates instead of the $120 million sought by the governor. It now heads to the House for consideration.
The Senate also approved, on a vote of 38-1, a $32.5 million proposal to get more children on Medicaid.
The substitute bill that passed the Senate provides $20 million to enroll children in Medicaid or other government insurance programs, $10 million to cover people enrolled in or eligible for the developmental disabilities waiver and $2.5 million for behavioral-health services provided through government insurance programs. The bill was sponsored by Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana.
The Senate-approved version doesn’t include
“The $32.5 million will expand Medicaid for an additional 19,000 children through age 18. It will also provide additional behavioral health services to
The House and Senate are still working. They’ve approved competing versions of an electronic medical records bill. Both have approved supplemental funding for the general election, and the Senate has also approved $5 million in emergency funding to repair roads and bridges in Lincoln and Otero counties damaged by recent flooding.