New Mexico SB 241: CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ACT

Bill Text

SFC/SB 241
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AN ACT
RELATING TO CHILDREN; ENACTING THE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE
PROGRAM ACT; ESTABLISHING THE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM;
PROVIDING FOR PAYMENTS TO CHILD CARE FACILITIES THAT
PARTICIPATE IN THE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM; PROVIDING
ELIGIBILITY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS; PROVIDING FOR
ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS TO THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
AND CARE PROGRAM FUND.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 9-29A-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2020,
Chapter 3, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"9-29A-1. EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE FUND.--
A. The "early childhood education and care fund"
is created within the state treasury. The fund shall consist
of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants and
donations. Income from investment of the fund shall be
credited to the fund. Money in the fund shall be expended
only as provided in this section.
B. The state investment officer, subject to the
approval of the state investment council, shall invest money
in the early childhood education and care fund:
(1) in accordance with the prudent investor
rule set forth in the Uniform Prudent Investor Act; and
(2) in consultation with the state

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treasurer.
C. The state investment officer shall report
quarterly to the legislative finance committee and the state
investment council on the investments made pursuant to this
section. Annually, a report shall be submitted no later than
October 1 each year to the legislative finance committee, the
revenue stabilization and tax policy committee and any other
appropriate interim committees.
D. On July 1 of each year, a distribution shall be
made from the early childhood education and care fund to the
early childhood education and care program fund in an amount
equal to the greater of five percent of the average of the
year-end market values of the fund for the immediately
preceding three calendar years or five hundred million
dollars ($500,000,000).
E. In fiscal years 2026 through 2031, the
legislature may appropriate up to a total of seven hundred
million dollars ($700,000,000) from the early childhood
education and care fund to the early childhood education and
care program fund, which shall be in addition to any other
appropriations or distributions made pursuant to this
section; provided that an appropriation made pursuant to this
subsection shall not exceed an amount that would decrease the
total balance in the early childhood education and care fund
to below ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000).

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F. In addition to the distribution pursuant to
Subsection D of this section, money in the early childhood
education and care fund may be expended in the event that
general fund balances, including all authorized revenues and
transfers to the general fund and balances in the general
fund operating reserve, the appropriation contingency fund,
the tobacco settlement permanent fund, the state-support
reserve fund and the tax stabilization reserve, will not meet
the level of appropriations authorized from the general fund
for a fiscal year. In that event, to avoid an
unconstitutional deficit, the legislature may appropriate
from the early childhood education and care fund to the
general fund only in the amount necessary to meet general
fund appropriations for that fiscal year and only if the
legislature has authorized transfers from the appropriation
contingency fund, the general fund operating reserve, the tax
stabilization reserve and the tobacco settlement permanent
fund that exhaust those fund balances."
SECTION 2. A new section of the Children's Code is
enacted to read:
"SHORT TITLE.--Sections 2 through 8 of this act may be
cited as the "Child Care Assistance Program Act"."
SECTION 3. A new section of the Children's Code is
enacted to read:
"DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Child Care Assistance

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Program Act:
A. "at-risk child" means a child who may be
vulnerable to or experiencing negative outcomes due to
factors such as poverty, domestic violence, substance abuse,
mental health issues, family involvement in the justice
system, housing instability or homelessness; who has or is at
risk of having a developmental delay or a disability; or whom
the children, youth and families department identifies as
experiencing or at risk for abuse or neglect;
B. "child care assistance" means funding
administered by the department to a child care facility to
provide child care for eligible children through the child
care assistance program;
C. "child care facility" means a public or private
entity, facility or premises that is licensed or registered
and regulated by the department at which children receive
child care servi