Why responsible budgeting matters now more than ever

New Mexico’s health care system did not deteriorate by accident. It has been destabilized by deliberate policy choices made by Democratic leadership choices that expand government obligations, lock in permanent spending, and shift ever-growing costs onto taxpayers without fixing the system itself.

During debate on HB2, Democrats argue that historic revenues, workforce shortages, and inflation justify expanded state spending. They frame the budget as “stabilizing,” “investing in people,” and “meeting the moment.” But HB2 does not confront the largest cost drivers threatening the long-term stability of state government. Instead, it entrenches them even as enrollment and population decline.

A prime example is the statutory decision to require the state to cover 80% of health insurance premiums for all state employees, a benefit expansion enacted without meaningful health care reform or cost containment. Democrats now defend this policy as necessary for recruitment and retention, while simultaneously proposing to extend similar subsidies to public school employees, dramatically increasing long-term financial exposure despite fewer students and a shrinking workforce pipeline.

This comes on top of additional taxpayer-funded subsidies through the insurance exchanges first expanded during the recent special session and now increased again in HB2, adding tens of millions of dollars more in recurring health care costs. These layered commitments are justified as compassionate and necessary, yet the number of people relying on state systems is not growing at the same pace as the costs to sustain them.

Democrats point to increased appropriations in HB2 as proof of progress. But spending more money is different from fixing a broken system, especially when per-capita costs continue to rise while the population they are meant to serve is flat or declining.

Many of the state agencies appearing before the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, of which I am a member, are asking for more money not primarily to improve services, but to cover rising health insurance costs and exploding liability expenses, even as caseloads, enrollment or usage in many areas remain stagnant or decrease.

Those liability costs are not theoretical. They are lawsuits against the state of New Mexico.

When a child dies in CYFD custody, families sue CYFD. When road failures cause fatalities, the Department of Transportation is sued. Whistleblower and civil rights claims now expose agencies to expanded tort liability under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act.

Democrats expanded liability without guardrails, caps or meaningful reforms. They now justify the consequences as the “cost of accountability.” The real result is higher settlements, skyrocketing insurance premiums, and fewer resources for the very services families rely on all spread across a smaller and shrinking tax base.

HB2 does not address this growing liability bubble. It simply backfills the damage with more taxpayer dollars allowing government to grow while structural risk compounds beneath the surface.

Layered on top of this instability is the governor’s continued push for universal child care, one of the largest entitlement programs in state history costing $18,000 to $25,000 per child per year. Democrats justify this expansion by pointing to workforce participation and federal seed money, but HB2 makes clear that state taxpayers will ultimately bear the long-term cost even as birth rates decline and enrollment trends move in the opposite direction.

Democrats now control every lever of power in Santa Fe. The governor’s office. Both chambers of the Legislature. Every major committee. If the system is failing, it is because these policies are failing.

New Mexico families deserve better than slogans, mandates and budgets that confuse spending growth with sustainability.

We can either confront these cost drivers now health care inflation, unchecked liability exposure, permanent entitlement expansion, and rising per-capita costs in a declining population or continue expanding obligations until the system collapses under its own weight.

Responsible budgeting is not about saying no to people. It is about saying yes to a future that actually works.