The System of Civil Legal Services for Very Low-Income New Mexicans is Seriously Under-Funded. Now, state funding that undergirds the system is being threatened.

Civil legal aid helps low-income New Mexicans when they need legal assistance to obtain or maintain basic necessities: housing, food, healthcare and secure and stable families.

People in need look to legal aid programs for help with critical legal problems including:

• Domestic violence
• Family law, including child support and child custody issues
• Housing, including landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, and unsafe housing conditions
• Income maintenance, such as TANF and social security
• Consumer problems
• Healthcare, including Medicare and Medicaid

Legal aid programs in New Mexico do not represent people in criminal matters.

Most legal aid recipients earn less than 125% of the federal poverty level. One-fifth of the people in New Mexico—411,000 people; over 128,000 families—meet the financial criteria for receiving legal aid under the federally funded programs.

24.8 % of legal aid clients are Native American, 50% are Hispanic, many are single mothers.

The Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission estimates that for every person to whom legal services are provided, two others are turned away because the system of legal aid providers does not have the resources to serve them.

About three-quarters of the state’s funding for civil legal services for low-income New Mexicans goes to three organizations that form the foundation of the system of state-wide civil legal services for the poor: DNA People’s Legal Services, NM Legal Aid and Law Access New Mexico. One-quarter has gone to support other organizations that provide legal services to the poor such as Catholic Charities, the Fair Lending Center, the Senior Citizens’ Law Office, Lawyers Referral for the Elderly Service, Pegasus Legal Services for Children, Enlace Communitario, and other organizations.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR!

Ask him or her to stop any threats to funding for civil legal services.

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The Very Poorest Families and Working Parents Need You To Speak Up Today!

Significant cuts to the TANF cash assistance and child care assistance programs are slated to go into effect soon if additional resources are not provided.

Please call the Governor today and ask that he protect the TANF cash assistance and child care assistance programs.

TANF cash assistance provides critical income support to some of the state’s most vulnerable families with children. The TANF caseload has grown by nearly 30% since the start of the economic downturn reflecting the growing need in the state and the fact that well-paying jobs are increasingly difficult to come by.

TANF benefits are already below 30% of the federal poverty level – further cuts will leave families without the means to provide for even basic necessities. A family of three receiving TANF assistance with no other form of income receives less than $5,400 a year in cash assistance – already an enormous challenge to meeting their needs. Further cuts to TANF benefits will leave the program ineffective at protecting children from deep poverty and material deprivation.

Further cuts will not only harm vulnerable residents, but will also worsen the recession and dampen the recovery by reducing the economic activity these benefits generate.

Please take this opportunity to ask the Governor to provide the resources needed to prevent cuts to vital safety net programs such as TANF and child care assistance.

PLEASE ACT NOW!

The Governors office can be reached at (505) 476-2200.

Please call with your adaptation of this message: “New Mexico’s poorest families and working parents need him to rescue TANF cash assistance and childcare assistance with discretionary funding.”

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The Government Restructuring Task Force Needs to Hear From You!

The current revenue crisis continues to put essential safety-net programs in jeopardy; we need to advocate to keep them. The Government Restructuring Task Force, which will be giving recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature, is soliciting PUBLIC COMMENT about state spending priorities. They want to know:

• What are the essential services the state must deliver?
• What is the most effective way to accomplish the state’s goals with the funds available?

The fundamental role of state government is to ensure the health and safety of all New Mexicans. The safety net programs are designed to do just that. The safety net is made up of programs and services that are foundational to strong, healthy and economically sound communities. This includes programs and services such as Food Assistance, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, General Assistance, Child Care Assistance, Civil Legal Services for the poor, Unemployment Insurance and public education.

SPEAK UP!

Click here and tell the Task Force that
New Mexico kids and families need these programs.

What You Might Say: Tell them not to balance the budget on the backs of working families, but to raise revenue in ways that promote fairness. Suggest that the state repeal the 2003 tax cuts for high-income earning New Mexicans and collect income taxes from out-of-state corporations making profits in New Mexico to generate the revenue to fund these programs.

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Help to Extend the TANF Emergency Fund

New Mexico is facing a budget shortfall in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Care Assistance Programs. If additional funding is not allocated to these programs, cuts will be made.

One potential source of funding is the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund. Created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the TANF Emergency Fund is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2010. The TANF Emergency Fund has been a valuable tool in promoting assistance to vulnerable families, and it should be extended because far too many families are still facing high levels of unemployment and need.

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR

Urge him to go to Senators Baucus and Reid to express the urgency of extending the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund.

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Updates:

• New recommendations on healthcare reform and Medicaid! The Center wrote an extensive report on behalf of the Medicaid Coalition and presented it to New Mexico’s Legislative Working Group on Healthcare Reform in July 2010. The report describes the top recommendations from advocacy groups for how New Mexico can take advantage of the opportunities under reform to improve healthcare coverage for low-income New Mexicans. Access the report here.
• With the passage of health reform, over 100,000 New Mexicans will gain new healthcare coverage through Medicaid, starting in 2014! See this factsheet from the Kaiser foundation for more information about Medicaid’s role in reform.
• Although the NM Human Services Department recently released an update that no longer proposes to drastically reduce Medicaid to only the minimal level of coverage, HSD is still considering cuts to healthcare services to prepare for funding shortfalls next year. The Medicaid Advisory Council will be taking public comments. (See the schedule of meetings).
• The legislature provided enough funding for Medicaid this year to prevent major cuts that were anticipated to enrollment and services due to state budget shortfalls. However, the funding is not adequate to open up the SCI program, which was frozen last year to new enrollment. Approximately 15,000 people are now on the waitlist.
• Op Ed:Plug States $600 Million Deficit With Fairness (February 2010)

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About Medicaid:

Medicaid and SCI provide healthcare coverage to over 500,000 New Mexicans. In some counties, the programs serve up to 40% of the people (see a chart on county enrollment). Medicaid coverage is limited to children, very low income families, people with disabilities, certain elderly persons, and women who are pregnant, who seek family planning services, or who have been diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer. Other low income adults are generally not eligible for Medicaid, but they may be able to enroll in “State Coverage Insurance” (SCI) depending on the availability of state and federal funding for the program. See our chart on the major categories of people covered by Medicaid in New Mexico.

Medicaid also provides critical support to the economy and healthcare sector. New Mexico currently receives $4 in federal funds for every $1 the State spends on Medicaid. These dollars circulate through our economy, generate jobs, and support the healthcare industry. Without Medicaid, the healthcare providers, hospitals, and local taxpayers would bear the cost of uncompensated care, and at much higher costs than providing coverage through Medicaid.

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How to Apply for Medicaid

• Please refer to the HOW TO APPLY FOR PUBLIC BENEFITS section of our website.
• You can use the YES-NM online screening tool to see if you are likely eligible for SNAP and other benefits.

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Our Advocacy on Medicaid

Increasing access to health care is a central piece of the Center’s work. We advocate to improve access to Medicaid in New Mexico by protecting against funding cuts, improving enrollment and retention procedures, and increasing accountability in Medicaid.

Protect Medicaid With Adequate Funding: The most vulnerable New Mexicans could lose vital healthcare services if funding shortfalls persist for Medicaid. In 2009, New Mexico suffered a major revenue crisis that led to numerous cuts to nearly every state program. The Medicaid program received temporary assistance from federal stimulus funds, but this money was used to replace over $200 million of state funding that was then taken out of Medicaid to help other parts of the state budget. Shortfalls resulted in the SCI program being frozen (with approximately 15,000 people currently on the waiting list) and payment cuts to healthcare providers. HSD anticipated even more drastic reductions during the 2010 legislative session that would have threatened essential healthcare for low income New Mexicans, damaged our entire healthcare system, and hurt the State’s chances for economic recovery.

The Center on Law & Poverty worked in collaboration with numerous organizations and providers to preserve this vital program. We provided expert testimony to the legislature, advocated for oversight on the restructuring plans for Medicaid, and educated the public and lawmakers about the importance of Medicaid through media and other avenues. We closely analyzed the Medicaid budget to ensure that funding was adequate for the program. As a result of the sustained advocacy of collaborating organizations, community members, and key legislators who championed the issue, Medicaid was one of the only programs that did not suffer further reductions in the 2010 legislative session. While the funding is still not adequate to reverse cuts to the SCI program, it is sufficient to prevent further cuts to essential services and drastic restructuring of the program in the next year.

The Center will continue to strongly advocate for preserving funding for Medicaid. The State is facing a major challenge next year when it will need to return approximately $300 million in state funding for Medicaid when federal stimulus funds expire. For more information about the importance of Medicaid, see our Factsheet: Medicaid Vital to NM.

Improve Enrollment and Retention Procedures: The Center has long advocated for changes to improve enrollment procedures in Medicaid. In 2004, we launched an advocacy campaign to end “autoclosure”, a procedure that was implemented in New Mexico as a means for processing Medicaid cases that were due for renewal. A computer would automatically disenroll participants from Medicaid when their certifications expired, even in cases when the person was still eligible for services. During the first 15 months of autoclosure, more than 120,000 families were disenrolled from Medicaid. Approximately 75% of these families were subsequently reinstated, indicating they were financially eligible all along. In 2004, the Center filed a lawsuit, Valdez v. Hyde, against the New Mexico Human Services Department seeking to end autoclosure. Read a copy of the complaint. Watch the video here about the experiences of individuals and community providers with autoclosure. While the practice of autoclosure still remains, the Human Services Department has since taken significant steps to improve its renewal procedures.

The Center continues to push for simplified enrollment procedures. In April 2009, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) was enacted, providing numerous bonuses and financial incentives to states to improve enrollment procedures in Medicaid and CHIP. Read our memo for detailed description of the options available to New Mexico under CHIPRA. We collaborated with advocates to encourage the State to provide 12-month continuous coverage to children despite fluctuations in their family income and to remove the 5 year waiting period for lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women. The state adopted both measures in October 2009. We continue to urge the State to:

1. Ease documentation requirements for U.S. citizens: the State can receive a generous 90% federal match to develop a database system with the Social Security Administration to verify the citizenship of Medicaid applicants. The system has proven very successful in other states for saving tens of millions of dollars, improving administrative efficiency, and reducing the paperwork burden on applicants.
2. Provide more language interpretation services: the State can receive a higher federal matching rate of 75% to 85% for providing language interpretation and translation services in Medicaid/CHIP that are already required by federal law.
3. Adopt automatic renewal and express lane procedures that would simplify the enrollment process and ensure that more people stay enrolled.

In addition, the Center advocates for improving access to Medicaid for eligible people from immigrant families, including children and family members who are U.S. citizens or qualified immigrants for the program. The Center also continues to push for enforcement of the consent decree from the Hatten-Gonzalez v. Hyde class action lawsuit that mandates improvements to the application process for all Medicaid applicants.

Transparency Initiatives: The Center has led ongoing advocacy efforts for the Human Services Department (HSD) to collect and report important data on Medicaid. In 2009, we provided extensive research, expert testimony, and advocacy on House Bill 130 sponsored by Representative Mimi Stewart that would have required HSD to report upon enrollment and retention rates, and the reasons for why cases have been denied or closed. This information is collected by many other states, and is collected in the HSD computer system, but is not publicly reported. The bill unanimously passed the legislature, but was vetoed by the Governor. Read a copy of the bill, as well as a factsheet about the bill.

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Video:

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Updates

Income Calculation Method Changed
Starting on April 1, 2010, the way earned income is calculated. The change will expand eligibility and increase benefit amounts for working families.

TANF Reauthorization
Congress must take action by September 30, 2010 to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF) block grant. This comes at a time when an increasing number of New Mexico families are needy.

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About TANF

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, known in New Mexico as New Mexico Works (NM Works), provides time-limited cash assistance to low-income families who qualify. TANF is a flawed but essential part of the safety net for very low-income families. While cash benefits are meager – a maximum of $447 per month for a family of 3 – TANF provides much needed assistance. TANF serves only extremely poor New Mexicans – working families generally must to have income at or below 69% of the poverty level and families with unearned income generally must have income at or below 33% of the poverty level. TANF can also provide access to paths out of poverty through services such as job training and work supports such as child care.

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How to Apply for TANF

• Please refer to the HOW TO APPLY FOR PUBLIC BENEFITS section of our website.
• You can use the YES-NM online screening tool to see if you are likely eligible for SNAP and other benefits.

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Know Your Rights

Following a few tips can help ensure that your application is processed correctly and efficiently:

• Find all the documents you need for the application, make copies of them, and submit them at one time to avoid repeated trips to the ISD office.
• Always ask for a receipt! The ISD office must provide you with a receipt that lists the documents that you turned in for the application. This is a very helpful tool for ensuring that your application is not improperly denied.
• Keep copies of every document submitted, and every letter or notice from ISD about the case, including envelopes that show when the document was mailed.
• Remember – if you have difficulty completing the application process because your primary language is not English, HSD must provide translation and interpretation services to you at no cost.

Our Advocacy on TANF

The Center works closely with state government, legislators, poverty advocates, and community organizations to protect and improve the TANF/NM Works program through both legislative and administrative channels. Our advocacy includes:

• Ensure New Mexico takes full advantage of federal funds available through the TANF Emergency Fund.
• Advocate for an extension and expansion of the TANF Emergency Fund to ensure New Mexico has sufficient resources to provide assistance to the growing number of families facing unemployment in this difficult job market.
• Advocate to ensure federal TANF funds received by New Mexico are used to provide core TANF services to New Mexico’s most vulnerable families.
• Advocate for change in TANF program so that caregivers are not penalized for become legal guardians of needy children.
• Encouraging the Human Services Department to fully utilize a policy which would prevent families with hardships from being unnecessarily cut off of TANF assistance due to the time limit. While New Mexico could be providing benefits beyond the 60 month time limit to 20% of the caseload, in May 2009, only 1.3% of the TANF caseload was comprised of families receiving benefits beyond 60 months.
• Encourage the Human Services Department to implement an Emergency Assistance Program to provide one-time assistance to families facing short term crisis during the recession. Emergency Assistance could be designed to prevent families from falling into homelessness and support self-sufficiency through work supports:
  • Payments for up to four months of back rent to prevent eviction and homelessness;
  • Payments for utility arrearages;
  • Assistance with the first month of rent and security deposit to move families out of homelessness;
  • Payment to prevent job loss such as cost to repair a car or purchase uniforms.

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