Find Out How New Mexico Plans to Protect us Against the Big Ugly Bill

Tuning IN

To find out details of any meeting, go to nmlegis.gov, and click “committees”, then scan for the “interim committee list”, find the committee of interest and click on it. The page that appears will have the next meeting date, the list of members, the agenda for the meeting and handouts—these later items may not show up until 1-3 days before the meeting. You can generally either zoom or webcast the meeting, though both may not be available.

What Happens

The interim committees include senators and representatives from regular committees, and others, including representation from the appropriations and finance committees, and leadership. Meetings range from 1-4 days, and are used to inform legislators about the status of priority situations. Experts from inside and outside the government are asked to make presentations, and the Legislative Finance committee staff provide briefing materials, that include whatever data and evaluations they have done. Legislators have relatively informal dialogue and questioning on each topic. Meetings are recorded and you can go to the webcast tab to find meetings you have missed and scroll through them to agenda items of interest. The Committee page on nmlegis.gov posts all the handouts and past agendas.

Listening to these meetings is the best way to get an understanding of how the different government agencies function with respect to a given topic. The informal nature of deliberations also surfaces many types of issues, from government performance, to gaps in the system, and need for legislative fixes.

Note meetings are held all over the state, so the best way to participate is often to use zoom and webcast options. November and December meetings that discuss potential legislation are usually in Santa Fe.

New This Year: The Federal Funding Stabilization Sub-Committee

This committee was created to address the impacts of cuts to federal funding on New Mexico programs and services from Trump’s Big Ugly Bill. The committee met in May to get organized, and the first week of July to get presentations mostly on health care, education, and some grants. There is not a schedule of meetings posted at this writing (7/10/2025). However, a schedule will appear on nmlegis.gov soon, since the bill was signed last week, and parts of it go into effect this year (e.g., cuts to SNAP). The legislature reserved pots of money in the last session to address expected cuts, but there will be fierce competition for these funds as they will not cover the scope of the cuts.

The Governor has indicated the likely need for a special session in the fall to deal with funding cuts from the Big Ugly Bill. The substance for that session will come out of this committee. Major impacts are likely to hit Medicaid, food assistance, rural hospital survival, public education, Indian colleges, and grant funding that supports local governments and non-profits in NM.

This committee is co-chaired by Patty Lundstrom (House) and Bill Soules (Senate). Linda Trujillo and Reena Szczepanski are Santa Fe legislators on the committee.

Other Interim Committees with Posted Schedules (not a complete list)

Note there are not committees for many issues of interest like housing & homelessness—these are often heard in the Health, Courts Corrections & Justice, and Legislative Finance Committees, if you want to find specific topics, screen the agendas as they appear for these and related committees.

Legislative Finance Committee (House appropriations & Senate Finance committees)

  • July 21-24
  • August 19-21
  • September 23-25
  • October 14-16
  • November 17-21
  • December 7-12

Courts Corrections & Justice (both judiciary committees)

  • July 30-31
  • August 25-27
  • September 22-24
  • October 16-17
  • November 6-7

Health & Human Services (both health committees)

  • July 21-23
  • August 18-20
  • September 10-12
  • October 6-9
  • November 5-7

Water & Natural Resources (mix of environment/climate committees)

  • August 18-20
  • September 11-12
  • October 29-30
  • November 17-18

RadioActive & Hazardous Materials

  • July 11
  • August 1
  • September 2
  • October 3

Science/Technology & Telecom

  • July 29-30
  • August 25-26
  • September 22-23
  • October 23-24
  • November 12

Legislative Education Study Committee

  • July 23-25
  • September 3-5
  • October 15-17
  • November 19-21
  • December 17-19
  • January 19

Economic & Rural Development & Policy

  • July 7-8
  • August 11-12
  • September 4-5
  • October 1-2
  • November 10

Indian Affairs

  • July 16-18
  • August 14-15
  • September 25-26
  • October 22-24
  • November 13-14

Revenue Stabilizaton & Tax Policy

  • August 14
  • September 2-3
  • September 30-October 1
  • December 15-16

Military & Veterans

  • July 15
  • August 13
  • October 14
  • November 5