Latest news with #HermitsPeak-CalfCanyonFire
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NM fire victims find recourse in court after delays, inaction by Congress, FEMA
The Cerro Pelado Fire seen from La Bajada Hill on April 29, 2022. (Photo by Shaun Griswold / Source NM) Those who suffered losses in prescribed burns gone awry in New Mexico's historic 2022 wildfire season are asking the courts to intervene, following what their lawyers say are failures by the federal government and Congress to make victims whole. In the spring of 2022, the Cerro Pelado Fire, the Hermits Peak Fire and the Calf Canyon Fire escaped containment lines to become runaway wildfires, all of them first ignited by the United States Forest Service as prescribed burns. The Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fires merged in late April of that year and grew into the biggest fire in New Mexico history. In total, the fires burned nearly 400,000 acres, and left livelihoods and homes destroyed in their wake. Last week, thanks to a federal judge's intervention, a dozen victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire finally received full compensation, while lawyers representing Cerro Pelado Fire victims recently filed a lawsuit against the United States Forest Service, setting up a difficult battle in federal court. In the scar of New Mexico's largest wildfire, a legal battle is brewing over the cost of suffering The court has emerged as a last resort for compensation amid ongoing concerns about the distribution of $5.45 billion compensation fund for Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire victims Congress created in late 2022, along with an unsuccessful effort by members of New Mexico's congressional delegation to create a similar fund for Cerro Pelado Fire victims, lawyers for victims of both fires said in recent interviews. 'Here we are, three years later, after the devastation of the burn scar, my clients finally got their day in court,' Brian Colón, attorney with Singleton Schreiber, a firm representing Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire victims, told Source New Mexico. 'They got compensation awarded for the trespass that the federal government conducted when they were negligent three years ago.' Federal Judge James Browning took a day and a half last week to listen to testimony from a dozen victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, who each described in detail the financial cost and also the emotional toll of the federally caused, 534-square-mile wildfire. One by one, Judge James Browning ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the fund Congress created, to award them thousands of dollars. The judge stepped in as part of a 'judicial review' allowed for in the act Congress passed when the parties cannot agree on an appropriate compensation amount. By the time the victims testified in court, FEMA had offered them low or sometimes no money at all for certain categories of losses. Notably, Browning ordered FEMA to provide the victims so-called noneconomic damages, akin to pain and suffering payments, for the emotional hardship the fire caused. FEMA had provided each of them a final payment offer listing '$0' for noneconomic damages. Even though last week's hearing involved only a dozen clients, the payments ranging between $9,000 and $330,000 represent a 'watershed' moment and a measure of closure in a legal battle pending for more than a year, Colón said. FEMA initially said the law Congress passed only allowed the agency to pay victims for losses that carry a price tag: burned homes, forgone business revenue and evacuation expenses, for example. By intervening to hear individual cases, Browning had to evaluate and quantify aspects of victims' experiences such as their proximity to the fire as it was burning; their anguish as they fled the blaze; and the extent of the 'nuisance' and 'trespass' the fire represented on their property. After federal judge's order, NM fire victims should seek to describe their anguish, lawyer says Late last year, in a separate, more-sweeping lawsuit, Browning ordered FEMA to begin awarding noneconomic damages, saying in a 99-page ruling that the damages are allowable under New Mexico state law and the law Congress passed. That order remains pending, and, as with the individual cases Browning ruled on last week, can still be appealed. FEMA and the United States Attorney's Office, which represents the agency in court, have declined to say whether they plan to appeal. While the victims' lawyers have 'no indication what FEMA's intentions are,' Colón noted that his firm has filed lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of named victims, each of whom could go before Browning in the coming months to seek whatever recourse the judge deems fit to award. 'We're gonna put as many of them in front of Judge Browning as he will permit, in whatever timetable he dictates,' Colón said. 'And we're optimistic that he is going to continue dedicating a very substantial amount of time to try and move these cases forward.' Browning announced in January he intends to retire in February 2026 after 22 years on the bench. While the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in noneconomic damages for all victims who seek them is still pending, the FEMA claims office Congress created is continuing to award compensation for other types of losses. According to the latest figures, FEMA has paid 16,966 claims totaling $2.35 billion for things like reforestation, business expenses, damaged property and losses local governments incurred responding to the fire. In enacting the Hermits Peak bill, members of New Mexico's congressional delegation have said they envisioned the accompanying claims office as a way to swiftly and fairly pay victims of the fire without the need for a costly and time-consuming court battle. A new lawsuit alleges a Forest Service 'cover up' denied people living within the Cerro Pelado Fire the same opportunity. In late April of this year, lawyers representing 20 plaintiffs, including individual property owners and the Jemez Pueblo and Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service for the 46,000-acre fire in the Jemez Mountains, alleging that agency was negligent in failing to monitor the area for still-burning embers in the pile of thinned trees and brush it ignited after the snowpack had melted. The lawsuit also accuses the Forest Service of covering up its failure to monitor the pile by issuing an initial investigation determining the cause of the fire to be 'inconclusive.' Moreover, the lawsuit says, the Forest Service only ordered a second investigation that ultimately concluded the wildfire had begun as a 'holdover' after a 'whistleblower' and others raised issue with its original determination. NM federal delegation works to get new compensation pot for Cerro Pelado Fire victims 'The [Forest Service's] cover-up of the actual cause and origin of the wildfire resulted in the victims of the fire being left out of the Hermit's Peak Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act,' the lawsuit alleges. A spokesperson for the Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Monday afternoon from Source New Mexico. Chris Bauman, the plaintiffs' lawyer with B&D Law Offices, told Source New Mexico on Monday that even after New Mexico Democrats U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján sponsored the Cerro Pelado Fire Assistance Act, he never thought the separate bill had much of a chance of delivering compensation like the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act did. 'We were told by people that know more about how things work in Washington that it was a long shot,' he said. 'So really we didn't have much expectation, but obviously we were hopeful.' Winning a lawsuit against the federal government is difficult, Bauman said, due to the 'discretionary function' exemption to the Federal Tort Claims Act. That exemption prohibits the federal government from being liable if employees acted within the scope of their duties during a harmful act. Bauman's firm needs to prove that the Forest Service employees who lit the fire in January violated a mandatory policy when they failed to notice that the pile of debris they had lit smoldered undetected for months until catching a huge wind gust on April 22, 2022. According to the lawsuit, the burn plan laying out the series of pile burns in the area requires continuous monitoring, especially after the snowpack disappears. 'So that's what we've tried to highlight in our complaint, is that there were multiple instances where they were required to do things under the burn plan and failed to do so,' he said. Feds try to skirt responsibility in lawsuit for people who died after state's biggest wildfire It's not clear how much damage the fire caused, in terms of dollars, Bauman said, though he acknowledged it's far less than the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. Still, he said, the victims' only recourse is a lawsuit with a high bar to clear. 'The government will probably file the motion to dismiss, claiming lack of jurisdiction because of the discretionary function defense. We anticipate that will be sort of the first challenge to our case,' he said. 'Hopefully we'll survive that.' Once the information had emerged that the Cerro Pelado Fire had escaped from a pile burn, the state's congressional delegation in October 2023 introduced legislation similar to the Hermits Peak bill to compensate victims. It's been stalled ever since. Leger Fernandez told Source New Mexico on Monday in an emailed statement that she has not given up on Congress passing the Cerro Pelado Fire Assistance Act and fully compensating those victims like the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Act aims to do. 'We continue to push for the Cerro Pelado Fire Assistance Act because the communities harmed by that fire deserve justice—just like the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon survivors,' she said. 'When Democrats were in the majority, we were able to pass the Hermits Peak legislation because we had leadership in the House, Senate, and White House that prioritized disaster relief. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case.' Republicans have refused to advance the Cerro Pelado bill 'despite repeated efforts,' she said. She also cited the recent firing of the FEMA administrator a day after he testified that FEMA should still exist. 'It's clear that the Trump White House isn't focused on helping disaster survivors,' she said. 'We're not giving up. We'll keep fighting to get Cerro Pelado survivors the compensation they deserve.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Proposed cuts to FEMA could could hurt disaster-prone New Mexico
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways FEMA workers stationed along a road at a disaster recovery center in Glorieta, following the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire in 2022. (Photo by Bright Quashie for Source NM) President Donald Trump's newly released spending proposal identifies more than $600 million to be cut from 'woke' grant programs overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That budget proposal, which needs Congressional approval, does not specify which programs or grants would be axed but says the cuts would enable FEMA to refocus on 'sound emergency management.' It also says the agency previously focused too much on 'intersectional' distribution of disaster aid, 'diversity and inclusion efforts' and 'multicultural training.' 'The Budget reduces bloat and waste while encouraging States and communities to build resilience and use their unique local knowledge and ample resources in disaster response,' Trump officials wrote in the budget summary about proposed changes at FEMA. It's too soon to say what that could mean for disaster-prone New Mexico, local emergency management officials said. But they noted that the state has relied on hundreds of millions of federal dollars for a variety of programs in recent years, even excluding the roughly $5.5 billion FEMA oversees in a special compensation fund for the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. 'If you were to tell me tomorrow that the federal government were going to turn off the spigot, I would tell you that we will do everything we possibly can in our power and the governor's power to take care of the citizens of New Mexico, but we as a state would struggle,' Deputy DHSEM Secretary Ali Rye told Source, noting that the state doesn't exactly have 'ample resources' for disaster response. DHSEM's budget is a little more than $5 million and funds a core staff of just two people to handle disaster response. Apart from that, the agency relies almost entirely on federal grants, primarily through FEMA, Rye said, for personnel and programs. The Legislature approved funding for five more positions this session in various capacities, Rye said. A FEMA formula, based on the state's population, calculates that New Mexico can withstand about $4 million in damage from a natural disaster before a federal disaster declaration would be necessary here. Once that threshold is reached, state officials apply to FEMA for a Presidential Disaster Declaration, which allows the agency to show up in the state and offer a suite of federally funded programs, such as individual assistance for families affected and reimbursement of 75% of costs incurred by local governments and other public entities. FEMA has allocated a little more than $1 billion for public entities following recent fires and floods here, according to numbers DHSEM spokesperson Danielle Silva provided, along with hundreds of millions in assistance for individuals. Breakdown of federal disaster grants to New Mexico*: FEMA Disaster Case Management $25 million ($12M for Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, $9M for South Fork/Salt Fires, $4M for Roswell-area flooding) This program provides daily communications and program application advocacy and support for more than more than 2,000 NM households affected by disasters, including nearly 1,000 in Mora and San Miguel, Counties, more than 900 in Lincoln County and Mescalero Apache Reservation and more than 350 in Chaves County). FEMA Public Assistance $1.011 billion across all active disaster declarations Funding supports 890 projects for state, local and nonprofit entities to cover costs for emergency response measures and infrastructure like buildings, utilities, roads and bridges FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program $148 million Funding supports 86 mitigation projects statewide, including purchase of additional generators, hardening of potentially at-risk facilities and efforts to improve future disaster resilience. HUD Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery $141 million NM Impact: Programs to address unmet needs for housing, infrastructure and economic revitalization in communities impacted by the South Fork Fire and Salt Fire, as well as the Chaves Flood event and Building Resiliency Center to serve Mora and San Miguel Counties for the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire recovery effort. *According to NM DHSEM spokesperson Danielle Silva But whether those thresholds still apply is an open question, Rye said. She noted that Trump denied Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' request for FEMA aid following severe rainstorms and tornadoes that killed at least three people. 'They haven't been using that formula,' Rye said. 'Right now we're all in a gray zone. We don't know where that threshold is, and we won't know until we apply for a federal declaration and we get either approved or denied.' In addition to the uncertainty and threatened cuts, New Mexico already lost $4 million in expected FEMA funds through the agency's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which was among billions in promised aid cut across the country. While that promised funding aimed at reducing hazard risk hadn't been allocated, a number of worthy recipients applied, Silva said. 'We received a lot of project ideas, including improvements to low water crossings on bus routes, enhanced drainage systems, and clean drinking-water plans,' she said. The proposed cuts come as New Mexico continues to deal with the fallout of three major natural disasters in three years, including two that occurred in 2024: the wildfires in New Mexico in 2022, along with the South Fork and Salt Fires in Ruidoso and Roswell-area flooding last year. The last time the state experienced two federal disaster declarations in the same year was 2014. Excluding the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the state had a reprieve of nearly a decade without any federal disaster declarations before the 2022 wildfires. The acting FEMA secretary is scheduled to testify today before the House Appropriations Committee about her plan for FEMA, which the Department of Homeland Security oversees. Sources told E&E news that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem hopes to get rid of all FEMA preparedness programs. Rye estimated that New Mexico has funding from about 15 preparedness grants currently. If recent disaster declarations serve as any indication, the state would need $150 million to $200 million to adequately respond to natural disasters, Silva said. FEMA would reimburse most of those costs, but others the state would have to shoulder alone, like setting up emergency operations centers and conducting damage assessments. New Mexico pays for those disasters via governor's executive orders coming from the state's general fund. Those executive orders are capped at $750,000, meaning the governor often has to issue dozens of them at once to cover all the costs. Already this year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has issued more than 130 such orders for the South Fork and Salt Fire and Roswell-area flooding, for example. Despite the threat of funding cuts, Rye and Silva said that, no matter what happens, New Mexicans will be spared the cost of natural disasters. 'I would guarantee you right now, the governor will not allow the citizens to struggle,' she said, the next time a disaster occurs.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NM Highlands University sues FEMA, alleging unnecessary hurdle in way of 2022 wildfire compensation
The student center at New Mexico Highlands University pictured in December 2022. The university is suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency over what it says are unnecessary hurdles to wildfire compensation. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) A public university in Las Vegas, New Mexico is suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, alleging the agency is illegally forcing it to jump through bureaucratic hoops before it can seek compensation for a wildfire in 2022 caused by the United States Forest Service. New Mexico Highlands University, which has about 2,800 students, is seeking compensation from a $5.45 billion fund Congress created to fully compensate victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, the biggest fire in New Mexico history, which started due to two botched prescribed burns on federal land in early 2022. The wildfire burned more than 530 square miles and destroyed several hundred homes. It also upended life at the university, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The lawsuit does not provide a dollar figure, but it lists a variety of losses, including structural damage to university property from flooding and erosion; forced closures; increased insurance premiums; as well as emergency staffing costs for student support and operational expenses. Hermits Peak Fire victims say claims office head offered reassurances about Trump's threatened cuts But rather than applying for compensation made available through the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, the university's lawsuit says it is being required to first exhaust another means of covering some of those costs known as the FEMA Public Assistance program. That program is reserved for public entities like local governments and school districts seeking reimbursement for emergency and infrastructure costs they suffered during a disaster. It is also notoriously slow, requiring a seven-step approval process. 'The Public Assistance program is a lengthy discretionary reimbursement program, not a compensation program, that is difficult to navigate, can take years to complete, and will not cover all of Plaintiff's damages,' writes Brian Colón, a former state auditor and lawyer with Singleton Schreiber, which is suing on NMHU's behalf. The City of New Orleans is still awaiting some Public Assistance funds from Hurricane Katrina funds in 2005, according to the lawsuit. Here in New Mexico, six bridges damaged in a 2008 flood in Ruidoso were still awaiting repairs by the time post-fire flooding occurred there last year, delays local officials attribute, in part, to Public Assistance challenges. Flash floods poised to continue in disaster areas through monsoon season And the state of New Mexico has awarded $170 million in zero-interest loans in recent years to local governments affected by various recent disasters, a measure meant to counteract delays associated with the FEMA program. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, approval for Public Assistance has also become less certain. This week, FEMA declined to cover 100% of the Public Assistance costs incurred from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and denied the state of Washington's request for disaster assistance, including Public Assistance, following a bomb cyclone there last year. Colón, in a brief interview Thursday, said he was unaware of any additional delays or denials for public entities affected by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire since Trump took office. FEMA officials did not immediately respond to a comment about that or the lawsuit generally on Thursday. The university is not the first public entity in and around the burn scar to sue FEMA for requiring the extra step. Other plaintiffs include the Mora-San Miguel Electrical Co-operative, Las Vegas City Schools, and the Mora Independent School District. Those cases are all still pending. As of April 15, the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Claims Office has paid out $2.25 billion in compensation to individuals, businesses, nonprofits and local governments, which amounts to about 41% of the $5.45 billion Congress awarded. That figure includes $137 million to local governments, most of which was a single payment of $98 million to the City of Las Vegas to replace its water treatment facilities. The amount paid out via FEMA Public Assistance money is less clear. According to a FEMA website, the agency has obligated a little more than $170 million to local public entities that incurred costs related to the wildfire disaster in New Mexico in 2022. That money goes to public entities in the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burn scar but also other wildfires that erupted in the state in spring 2022, and it's not clear how much has been actually paid, not just obligated, so far.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NM Legislative Recap March 21: ‘We're still here'
Michael Martinez holds a photo of flood damage that occurred near the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burn scar since the blaze nearly three years ago. "We're still here. We're still waiting," he said. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) Nearly three years after the biggest wildfire in New Mexico history, a small band of people who lost homes or endured other losses gathered in the Roundhouse on the session's penultimate day, in hopes of reminding the public that many fire victims have not received the compensation they say they deserve. On April 6, 2022, a small crew of federal wildland firefighters ignited a prescribed burn on a dry, windy day near Hermits Peak in Northern New Mexico. The blaze escaped containment lines and merged with another federal prescribed burn gone awry, burning an area the size of Los Angeles and destroying hundreds of homes. 'It wasn't just a loss of monetary wealth,' said Michael Martinez, an insurance agent who was caring for his grandmother when the fire forced Las Vegas residents to flee. 'It wasn't just a loss of homes. It wasn't just a loss of forest. It was a loss of what I would call generational wealth. 'We're not going to be able to share the beauty and the culture that was in this area for generations, because a lot of these people have been forced to relocate,' he said. Martinez organized a small gathering in the Roundhouse rotunda on Friday, displaying photos of burned homes and flooded acequias. One homeowner, Jane Lumsden, placed a photo of her house's charred remains and also her cat, Chai, lost in the fire. Congress allocated $5.45 billion to compensate fire victims for a wide variety of losses. According to the latest figures, the federal claims office tasked with providing that compensation has paid out nearly $2 billion of that money. But, 1,080 days after the wildfighters ignited that prescribed burn, too many people are still waiting for compensation, particularly those who lost their homes in the fire, Martinez said. 'We're still here,' said Martinez, who said he's been awaiting compensation for lost property since May. 'We're still waiting.' A House memorial honoring the long wait and the efforts to rebuild after the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon passed a House committee unanimously on Thursday. Even as both floors took an evening break at approximately 5:15 p.m., no information had emerged about when the tax conference committee will meet to hammer out the rift between chambers on the tax package. The word around the halls is that the meeting is expected sometime Friday evening. The Senate returns to the floor at 7 p.m., the House will also return, but at the call of the chair. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX As of 5:11 p.m., the following bills cleared the House on Friday, day 59 of the 60-day session: Senate Bill 155 would amend a section of the state's criminal code pertaining to embezzlement, specifically allowing for the aggregation of multiple incidents of embezzlement within a 12-month period against one victim, among other changes. Senate Bill 375 would allow early discharge for people who comply with probation and make other changes to parole. Senate Bill 159 would create a special license for independent movie theaters to sell beer and wine. Senate Bill 376 would make multiple changes to state employees' health benefits, including increasing the state's contribution to employee health insurance premiums and reducing the amount state employees pay. The legislation also eliminates the state health benefits program's budget shortfall. 'This bill will make a real difference for New Mexico's state employees,' New Mexico Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo said in a statement. 'By reducing health insurance costs for workers and closing the program's budget gap, we're delivering real savings while ensuring long-term stability.' Senate Bill 31 would create a $150 million Natural Disaster Revolving Fund to provide zero-interest loans to replace or repair infrastructure damaged by natural disasters. Senate Bill 274 would amend current state statute to increase financial thresholds for state agencies and local governments regarding the sale, trade or lease of public property Senate Bill 302 would create amplified background investigation requirements for people applying for gaming licenses, work permits and contractor access to facilities regulated under the Gaming Control Act and the New Mexico Bingo and Raffle Act Senate Bill 303 would eliminate the need for gaming machines to meet the standards and specifications set by Nevada and New Jersey, and instead require they just meet standards set by state law. Senate Bill 133 would amend the Educational Retirement Act to raise the maximum amount a retiree is allowed to earn annually from work after retirement with an affiliated employer — from $15,000 thousand to $25,000 —without suspending retirement benefits. Senate Bill 343 addresses teacher salary rates, specifically removing exceptions currently in statute for vocational teachers. Senate Bill 201 would authorize several state and legislative agencies to approve plans by the Public Education Department for programs funded by appropriations from the public education reform fund, which was created in response to the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit over inequitable education outcomes in the state. Senate Bill 88 would create a new Medicaid trust fund, starting with $300 million, to support and match federal funds for the Medicaid health insurance program. Senate Bill 16 would allow independent voters to participate in primary elections. Senate Bill 126 would increase the state rural universal service fund's maximum obligation cap from $30 million per year to $40 million per year. Senate Bill 383 would expand the use of revenue bonds to include rebuilding, repairing, replacing and hardening of municipal property damaged by a flood. Senate Bill 364 would allow people with work authorizations from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to work as police officers. Senate Bill 197 would allow local emergency medical services departments to sell bonds to be able to more easily afford ambulances. Senate Bill 290 would raise marriage license fees from $25 to $55. Senate Bill 236 would create a motorcycle-sized version of the existing 'look twice for motorcycles' license plate. Senate Bill 142 would update the grid modernization grant program by asking EMNRD and PRC to create a roadmap, and add new grant programs. Senate Bill 9 would align penalties for pipeline companies who violate safety regulations with federal standards. Senate Bill 120 would permanently eliminate behavioral health services cost sharing. The House voted not to pass Senate Bill 112, which would have created a new property tax exemption for student housing built on land owned by a higher education institution. The House recessed at 5:15 p.m. for a quick break and to maybe 'catch a bit of the Lobo game,' House Speaker Javier Martinez said. The Senate voted to concur on three bills the chamber had already passed, but were later amended on the House floor. The bills now head to the governor's desk for consideration. Those bills include Senate Bill 480, which would require the Public Education Department to create a report of the high school students who do not graduate within four years and provide it to the Higher Education Department; Senate Bill 11, which would require local public school districts and charter schools to develop and adopt a wireless communication device policy; and Senate Bill 353, which would amend the Search and Rescue Act to create protocols for federal, state, local and tribal agencies when Search and Rescue is called in an emergency. The Senate passed House Bill 206, which would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to award loans or grants to qualifying projects from the water project fund; House Bill 240, which would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to make grants and loans for drinking water projects and extends the repayment period to 10 years; House Bill 244, which would raise the minimum age of magistrate judges from 18 to 28 years old; House Bill 6, which would require employers working on projects funded by public bonds to pay the prevailing wage to their workers; House Bill 402, which would streamline and regulate credentialing of dental care providers; House Bill 41, which would allocate $13.25 million into the drinking water state revolving loan fund, the local government planning fund and the cultural affairs facilities infrastructure fund; House Bill 56, which would raise Medicaid reimbursement rates at birth centers to match the rate paid to hospitals for similar services; and House Bill 78, which would prevent insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers from interfering with health care providers' ability to acquire and sell prescription drugs at a discount. Senators debated a provision to encourage development of brackish water for more than two hours on the floor before passing it with bipartisan support to the governor's desk. House Bill 137, called the Strategic Water Supply, changed drastically over the session. Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) proposed an amendment that included additional language for protesting a project through an existing process with the Office of the State Engineer. The Senate rejected the amendment. During debate, Sen. Angel Charley (D-Acoma) urged the state Legislature to fully fund and map the state's aquifers before making a multimillion dollar investment to develop water sources, saying she's concerned about the extent of available water. 'It's giving gold rush, it's giving extraction, it's giving not thinking seven generations ahead,' Charley said on the floor about HB137. Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) asked one of the bill's sponsors, Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), what about his position had changed as he opposed the Strategic Water Supply bill in the 2024 session. Muñoz said HB137 was 'a completely different bill' noting that this version stripped language for treating oil and gas wastewater, and that he has 'always supported brackish water' treatment and development. HB137 passed on a 33-6 vote, six Democratic senators voted in opposition. A debate on an alternative to conservatorships was derailed after a surprise amendment inserted language from a Senate Bill that failed to advance committees last week. House Bill 149, the Supported Decision-Making Act, became a debate on Senate Bill 166, which would redefine 'harm to self' and 'harm to others' in state law to allow for more people to be civilly committed into a locked facility. SB166 passed unanimously on the Senate floor on March 12, but failed to make it through House committees. Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. William Sharer (R-Farmington) introduced an amendment to HB149 to incorporate wording from SB166, drawing claims of 'overreach' from Sens. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) and Linda López (D-Albuquerque), a sponsor of the proposed supported decision-making act. She called Sharer's amendment 'overreaching what we can do.' Sharer's response: 'This is the way the sausage is made,' he said. The amendment eventually passed by a 31-7 vote. The Senate also eventually passed the Supported Decision-Making Act, which now goes back to the House for a concurrence vote. As we noted on Thursday, the clock is ticking for some bills that have already landed on the governor's desk. On Friday, she signed into law a bill reforming oversight of the Children, Youth & Families Department — a sore spot for her administration —but not without some harsh words for the Legislature and Attorney General Raúl Torrez. AG excoriates governor over message on CYFD bill
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
FEMA to spend $377M administering Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire compensation program, records show
The burn scar of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire pictured Thursday, June 9, 2022. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source New Mexico) The federal claims office tasked with compensating victims of the state's biggest-ever wildfire expects to spend about $377 million in administrative costs by the end of this fiscal year, according to documents a lawyer for victims obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. In three spending bills since late 2022, Congress gave the Federal Emergency Management Agency a total of $5.45 billion with the aim of fully compensating victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. That fire erupted in April 2022 as the result of two botched prescribed burns in Northern New Mexico that escaped containment lines and merged into a 534-square-mile blaze that destroyed hundreds of homes and upended life in the small communities in the burn scar. According to financial documents lawyer Antonia Roybal-Mack provided to Source New Mexico, the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Claims Office expects to pay approximately $2.5 billion in compensation by the time this fiscal year ends Sept. 30. It's paid out nearly $2 billion so far. On top of the money going to victims, the office expects to spend about $161 million in administrative costs this fiscal year, which would put the total overhead costs at $377.5 million since the office opened in 2022. That amount, according to the documents, includes $13.5 million in transportation and travel, nearly $70 million in salaries and benefits, and nearly $2 million in equipment. But the biggest line item by far —more than $290 million of the $377 million spent — was categorized as a 'miscellaneous' expense, according to the documents. That category functions as a catch-all for significant costs, including third-party contracts, purchases of goods and services, facility maintenance, medical costs 'and other services not otherwise classified,' a claims office spokesperson said in an email Tuesday to Source New Mexico. Money spent on administration comes from the same $5.45-billion fund Congress awarded for fire victims. Including the overhead costs, the office expects to spend about $2.9 billion by October. That will leave an additional $2.55 billion for remaining claimants, minus future administrative costs. Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Day at the Legislature Friday, March 21 '' discussion and community meeting Saturday, March 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Luna Community College Claims Office Advocate's Connects: Thursday, March 20 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Peaks and Pines 28 Golf Drive Pendaries, N.M. Friday, March 21 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Abe Montoya Recreation Center Las Vegas, N.M. Office spokesperson Deborah Martinez, in an emailed statement justified the administrative costs as necessary to provide fair and efficient compensation. The office has to confirm eligibility for each claim and determine fair compensation, develop policies, build case management systems and more. As a result, the costs add up, she said. 'Administering a federal compensation program for wildfire-related losses is complex and resource-intensive due to several factors,' she said. 'Developing program policies and procedures demands significant time, research, and legal review and occasional updates. …These steps and many more are crucial to delivering payments fairly, equitably, and efficiently. According to the latest figures, the office has paid $1.97 billion to fire victims as of March 11. That includes $1.53 billion to individuals and households; $257 million to businesses; and$104 million for local government agencies. Roybal-Mack, in an interview with Source New Mexico, said even though the money spent to run the compensation fund is 'a huge number,' she noted that the office has been under mounting pressure, including from victims and members of New Mexico's congressional delegation, to staff up and pay claimants as fast as possible. 'It's substantial,' she said of the overhead costs. 'But it's also a big program, and we're asking them to run a big program and run it quickly.' Roybal-Mack said this new look at the finances made her realize the necessity of the additional $1.5 billion Congress awarded late last year. The office has not yet paid out several large pots of money, she said, including an expected $445 million to the State of New Mexico, plus hundreds of millions of dollars for people who lost their homes in the fire, along with untold amounts for erosion damage. A federal judge in December also ordered the office to pay claimants for so-called 'noneconomic damages,' which are similar to pain and suffering damages and estimated to be several hundred million dollars. The government completed the spending reports Roybal-Mack received late last year; they also include spending projections and monthly breakdowns of spending so far. One notable chart shows a surge of claims beginning in March of last year, which the Claims Office officials annotated with the phrase 'Mount Smoke.' That's a reference, Martinez said, to a glut of claims for smoke and ash damage. People living within a 2,200-square-mile area are eligible for smoke and ash payments from the towering smoke plume that lingered for weeks in the area as the fire burned, according to a Source New Mexico analysis of an eligibility map the outlet obtained. The office said in September that it's paid out nearly $400 million for cleaning costs associated with smoke and ash, using a standardized formula that officials said enable fast payments. The amount of money spent on smoke and ash has frustrated some advocates and members of Congress, especially as some people who lost their homes are still awaiting payment. Those total-loss claims are complicated and time-consuming, but the office is making them a priority, claims office director Jay Mitchell said at a meeting last month. According to the documents Roybal-Mack obtained, the office averaged $140 million a month in the last six months of 2024, excluding a one-time payment of $98 million in September 2024. In late August, the office announced it had awarded $98 million to the city of Las Vegasto replace its water treatment facilities, which were damaged during post-fire flooding. If the office continues to pay $140 million a month like it did in the second half of last year, it will spend $4 billion by January 2026, according to the documents.
