Latest news with #HouseJointResolution5
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After federal funding cut, Alaska Legislature asks Congress to help rural schools
Rep. Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan, speaks Feb. 21, 2025, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) A group of Alaska's rural school districts are asking for help after the federal government failed to renew a program that sends grant money to logging-dependent areas. On Monday, the Alaska Legislature joined the call for help by passing House Joint Resolution 5, which asks Congress to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. That act sent $12.6 million to Alaska schools in federal fiscal year 2023, but Congress has thus far failed to reauthorize the program. The state Senate passed HJR 5 by a 19-1 vote on May 9 after modifying a version originally written by Rep. Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan. The House agreed with the changes, 37-3, on Monday. The votes against the resolution came from conservative Republicans who generally oppose federal spending. The Secure Rural Schools Act, as it is commonly known, was designed to compensate rural school districts for tax revenue lost as the federal government began to restrict logging in the 1990s. In 2023, the law provided more than $250 million to districts nationwide, with about 5% of the funding coming to Alaska. For some of Southeast Alaska's rural school districts, the money was a big part of the local budget. Yakutat, for example, received more than $6,500 per student. Wrangell had almost $3,500, and the money was worth $584 for each of Ketchikan's 2,045 students. HJR 5, which will be sent to every member of Congress, asks for retroactive funding and for a permanent funding source to pay for the bill. It also encourages Congress to open more federal land to timber cutting 'in a manner that supports rural economic revitalization, conserves habitat, and promotes forest health.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Seeking to start a dialogue, Idaho legislator unveils local option tax proposal
Idaho state Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, speaks from the House floor at the State Capitol building on Jan. 23, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) An Idaho legislator is seeking the public's feedback on a new proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would give voters the power to approve a new local option sales and use tax. Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, sponsored House Joint Resolution 5 and a companion bill, House Bill 375. 'As we have heard over the course of our service here … there has been interest expressed from our local communities about having a more general local use tax made available,' Raybould said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A new local sales and use tax would be a new tax for specific products or services in a specific city or county that would be put forward for local voters to approve or deny. If voters approved a local sales and use tax, the tax would only be for specific products or services listed and only for local communities that vote to approve the new tax. The new tax would be in addition to the state's existing 6% sales tax. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted to introduce both bills on Thursday morning, and both bills are available to the public on the Idaho Legislature's website, or by clicking on the highlighted bill number near the beginning of this article. Raybould told legislators she isn't trying to pass House Joint Resolution 5 or House Bill 375 this year. Instead, Raybould said she put the proposals forward to circulate them publicly, gather feedback from Idahoans about her proposals and start a conversation. 'I want these ideas to be out there so that during the interim there can be ongoing conversations and proposals brought forward, because I felt that the time is ripe to resolve what this issue is going to look like going forward,' Raybould told legislators Thursday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. CONTACT US House Joint Resolution 5 is a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would ask Idaho voters to decide whether to give counties or municipalities the option to authorize a new local sales and use tax within its jurisdiction. Under the proposal, the maximum levy rate would be 2% and be limited to a maximum of four years. Even if statewide voters approve the proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution, no sales and use tax could be imposed unless it was also approved by a majority of voters within the jurisdiction during an general election taking place in an even numbered year. Under the proposal, any proposed local option sales and use tax up for election would be required to include a detailed description of the product or services that would be subject to the tax, as well as a description of how the money collected through the new tax would be used. Raybould said a new local option sales and use tax might be appealing to Idaho cities or counties that experience an influx of tourists and want to establish a local sales and use tax that targets products or services related to tourism, but doesn't really affect local residents. 'For instance, if I wanted to have a tax on hotels, I could establish that for the purposes of this particular local option tax, that it would apply to nights spent in a hotel,' Raybould said. 'You have to have an intended purpose. This can't just be for general maintenance and operations, there would need to be a specific purpose outlined.' The bill also includes what Raybould described as a trade-off. If the proposed amendment passes, Raybould said it would phase out any existing sales or use taxes available to cities and counties, such as an auditorium district. According to the Idaho State Tax Commission, there are three existing auditorium districts in place in Idaho. Those auditorium districts include: The Greater Boise Auditorium District, or GBAD The Idaho Falls Auditorium District The Pocatello Auditorium District 'That would be the trade, essentially, is that for a local option tax with flexibility that you would do the trade off with, potentially, like an auditorium district,' Raybould said. Raybould said the idea is that the new local option sales and use tax would eventually replace auditorium districts if her proposals pass. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted to introduce Raybould's proposals, but several legislators had questions or concerns about phasing out existing auditorium districts. 'I do want to make sure that we really talk this through, because I'm not sure that something that could cause an auditorium district to go away or prevent other communities from creating one is in the best long term interests of the community,' said Rep. Steve Berch, a Boise Democrat who used to serve on the board of an auditorium district. Raybould said existing auditorium districts would be allowed to remain in place until their stated expiration date. 'Whatever date exists on an existing auditorium district, they would be able to continue through the end of that period, but going forward the formation of any new district, assuming the amendment passed, would no longer be supported under the combination of these two bills,' Raybould said. Introducing House Joint Resolution 5 and House Bill 375 clears the way for both proposals to return to the House Revenue and Taxations Committee for full public hearing. However, neither proposal is expected to pass this legislative session. 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Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CYFD reform efforts inch forward in the Roundhouse
Feb. 21—SANTA FE — One by one, New Mexico's youth, education, health and workforce secretaries lined up in a House committee room Friday to speak against an effort to overhaul the state's Children, Youth and Families Department. Despite the opposition, the House Health and Human Services Committee voted 9-1 to enact House Joint Resolution 5, a measure that would allow voters to remove CYFD from the governor's oversight and instead create a five-member independent commission to hire a CYFD executive director by July 2027. It's not the only CYFD reform effort the committee passed Friday. Members also voted 9-1 to pass House Bill 5, which would create an Office of the Child Advocate administratively attached to the New Mexico Department of Justice, formerly the Attorney General's Office. "We need to do something now. We cannot continue to wait and put this off," said HJR5 bill sponsor Rep. Eleanor Chavez, D-Albuquerque. New Mexico has long struggled to address child welfare issues, and lawmakers have increased spending on CYFD in recent years in an attempt to hire more social workers. However, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has opposed efforts to increase outside oversight of the agency, instead ordering the creation of a new advisory council and office of innovation within CYFD. Both pieces of legislation still need to cross over to the Senate side of the Roundhouse before getting a chance at passage, though only House Bill 5 would require the governor's signature. The efforts have failed in past years. "CYFD welcomes accountability, oversight and partnership in improving CYFD to better serve New Mexicans, but an Office of Child Advocate attached to the Department of Justice just doesn't achieve this," CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados told the committee. Similarly, Deputy Secretary of Protective Services and Juvenile Justice Valerie Sandoval, speaking on behalf of Casados, said other legislative proposals — not HJR5 — would help solve the agency's challenges. "Removing CYFD as a Cabinet-level agency would hinder collaboration with key state agencies essential to child welfare, education and health," she said. She brought up a letter child welfare advocates Judith Meltzer and Kevin Ryan sent earlier this week to Casados and Tara Ford, counsel on a settlement in a lawsuit known as Kevin S., which sought reform of New Mexico's child welfare system. "In our view, child welfare services cannot be successfully operated in a vacuum. ... Commission-led governance is very likely, in our view, to exacerbate many of the problems we have documented in New Mexico," Meltzer and Ryan wrote, both of whom were dubbed "co-neutrals" as part of the settlement to help guide reform efforts. Speaking as a bill expert, Alvin Sallee, a foster parent and professor emeritus for New Mexico State University's social work program, said HJR5 would remove politics from CYFD, eliminating a secretary appointee coming at the whim of any gubernatorial administration. Under the resolution, the five commission members would be appointed staggered six-year terms by the governor, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority floor leader of the Senate and the minority floor leader of the House of Representatives. Sallee compared the setup to that of the state's Public Regulation Commission, which recently went through an overhaul to become a three-member appointed commission, all serving staggered six-year Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo, said he was dead set against HJR5 until the only ones who spoke in opposition were state Cabinet or deputy secretaries. Secretaries Mariana Padilla of the Public Education Department, who still is awaiting Senate confirmation; Kari Armijo of the Health Care Authority; Elizabeth Groginsky of the Early Childhood Education and Care Department; and Sarita Nair of the Department of Workforce Solutions also spoke against HJR5. "It says a lot about circling the wagons and trying to protect the status quo," Martinez said. Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque, voted against HJR5. She told the Journal after the committee she doesn't believe the measure would substantially improve the department; it "shifts the blame for CYFD's ineffectiveness from the Governor's Office to a politically appointed body." "I have appreciated Secretary Casados' involvement and participation during this legislative session and hope we can reform our (Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act) and place safeguards to ensure New Mexico's children are protected," she said. "Our state has invested millions of dollars following the Kevin S. lawsuit and yet CYFD continues to fail our children." Rep. Pamelya Herndon, D-Albuquerque, was the sole vote against HB5. She asked a few clarifying questions on the bill during the discussion but didn't explain her "no" vote afterward. She's also a sponsor of HJR5.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Today at the Roundhouse, Feb. 21
Feb. 21—The bill filing deadline has passed, and there are more than 1,000 bills, resolutions and memorials all looking to survive the Roundhouse this year. While legislators are fast-tracking crime and behavioral health efforts, it remains to be seen what else will make it through the Legislature. Here are a few things to watch out for on Friday, Feb. 21. CYFD: Efforts to reform the long-troubled Children, Youth and Families Department go before the House Health and Human Services Committee in the morning, including House Bill 5, which would create an Office of the Child Advocate, and House Joint Resolution 5, which would establish an independent Children, Youth and Families Commission. AI: House Bill 60 would create a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence systems. It's scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee. Alcohol taxes: An effort to impose a 6% tax on alcohol sales at the register is moving along quickly, having passed its first committee Wednesday and on the list to be heard in House Taxation and Revenue in the morning. Viva Las Vegas (N.M., that is): It's Las Vegas Day at the Capitol, as well as Multiple Sclerosis Action Day and Hunger Action Day.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Child welfare reform experts oppose NM CYFD commission plan
The State of New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, 1031 Lamberton Place NE in Albuquerque, photographed on Friday December 18, 2015. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal) Two of the people who oversee reforms to New Mexico's foster care system say lawmakers' plans to create an independent agency and remove oversight from the executive branch would only make things worse. House Joint Resolution 5 would move the Children, Youth and Families Department out of the governor's direct responsibility and place governance of the agency in the hands of an appointed five-member commission. On Tuesday, two state child welfare reform experts expressed their opposition to HJR 5 in a letter to New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados and Tara Ford, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against New Mexico's child welfare system known as Kevin S. The letter's authors, Judith Meltzer and Kevin Ryan, are the two 'co-neutrals' appointed by a federal court to oversee New Mexico's progress in the landmark settlement agreement resulting from the lawsuit. The co-neutrals 'genuinely are the most skilled and experienced experts in the nation,' said Mike Hart, the attorney who initially took the state government to court over its failed foster care system, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month. 'They turned around New Jersey, they turned around Oklahoma, they turned around Tennessee,' Hart told the committee. 'These folks know what they're doing.' Meltzer and Ryan wrote that while they generally don't comment on legislative matters 'we believe it is important that we share our views on this proposed change, based on both of our experiences in multiple states involved in child welfare reform.' 'While we understand fully the need for effective leadership and accountability to improve the performance of CYFD on behalf of New Mexico's children and families, we feel strongly that this change will not help and may, in fact, make improvement efforts even more difficult,' the co-neutrals wrote. Rep. Eleanor Chávez and House Speaker Javier Martínez, both Albuquerque Democrats, are sponsoring HJR 5. In a written statement on Wednesday, Chávez referred to Meltzer and Ryan as 'out-of-state co-neutrals' and said she was not previously aware of their concerns. 'New Mexicans know that the problems at CYFD are longstanding and pre-date the Kevin S. settlement,' she said. 'Since the settlement agreement, CYFD has failed to make any progress and New Mexico's children continue to pay the price. There should be absolutely no doubt that we have to make significant changes.' HJR 5 is one of several solutions lawmakers and experts have worked on for months to better protect children, she said. 'We trust the voters of New Mexico to evaluate the merits of this proposal and believe they deserve a say in improving the outcomes for our state's children,' Chávez said. Threatened and Restrained Martínez had not responded to Source's request for comment as of press time. The state's Risk Management Division recently reported a $3.9 million shortfall in its settlement fund, with child welfare cases playing a heavy role. In 2024, CYFD settled for $18 million across 12 settlements, according to a Source NM review of the settlement data available on the state's portal. The settlements ended lawsuits alleging the department's responsibility for the deaths or severe injuries of children in state custody, from years ago. In a written statement on Wednesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is grateful that the co-neutrals took the 'extraordinary step' of sharing their concerns about the legislation. 'These neutral monitors, who oversee child welfare reforms across multiple states, rarely comment on legislation,' she said. 'Their intervention highlights the serious risks this proposal poses to our reform efforts. The letter also points to successful transformations in New Jersey, DC, and Oklahoma – all achieved through direct executive accountability. I thank them for sharing their expertise and weighing in on this legislation.' Meltzer and Ryan said in other states where they've both worked, part of what led to better outcomes was creating child welfare departments as cabinet-level agencies reporting directly to governors. 'In states where we have witnessed reform take root, the Governors' direct oversight and support played a significant role in prioritizing child welfare reform within government, eliminating barriers and advancing accountability,' they wrote. The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted 4-3 in favor of HJR 5 on Feb. 10. The House Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to hear the joint resolution Friday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
