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House Passes Budget, Opportunity Scholarship Future | The Line

February 7, 2020 – The budget – the main focus of a 30-day session – passed the House as the Legislature hit its halfway mark this week. The $7.6 billion spending package does not include the governor’s Opportunity Scholarship plan to make tuition at state colleges and universities free for all eligible New Mexicans, but it does include a lot of one-time spending on things like underfunded public pensions, road repairs, and a new Early Childhood Education Trust Fund. And Governor Lujan Grisham’s administration is still reworking the free college tuition program, hoping to bring it back. Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel discuss the budget’s progress so far, with less than two weeks before the close of the legislation session. (This segment is part of our #YourNMGov project, in collaboration with KUNM radio and the Santa Fe Reporter, and funded by the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund)

Line Panelists:
Dan Foley, former state representative
Cathryn McGill, NM Black Leadership Council
Dave Mulryan, founder, Everybody Votes
Laura Sanchez-Rivét, attorney 

For Further Reading: 
House passes $7.6B budget bill on party-line vote — Albuquerque Journal
House passes spending plan — Santa Fe New Mexican