New Mexico forges ahead on welfare.

• Author: Tweedie, Jack
• Position: New Mexico Works Act

After lagging behind in the race to reform welfare, New Mexico has come up with some interesting flourishes in its new plan.

For two sessions, the New Mexico Legislature and Governor Gary Johnson sparred over how to change the state's welfare program, making it the last state to enact major reform. But as of Feb. 17, New Mexico has a plan and a good one at that - a package that is sure to be the most far-reaching legislated in 1998.

New Mexico joins the long list of states with broad new reform laws. Only Missouri, Kentucky and Alabama continue to rely primarily on administrative reforms.

It's been a struggle. The Legislature passed reforms in 1997, but Johnson vetoed the changes, claiming that they did not include a work requirement that complied with the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) law. He then implemented his own reforms, a plan called PROGRESS, that included a 60-day work requirement, a three-year time limit, and new eligibility requirements that counted the income and resources of all people who lived in the household.

Several legislators and welfare recipients sued the governor, arguing that adopting the plan through administrative regulation violated the lawmaking powers accorded to the Legislature under the state Constitution. The plan also conflicted with the existing welfare statute that prohibited a requirement that recipients work. The governor responded that the plan was required by the federal TANF. The state Supreme Court rejected the governor's arguments last September, holding that the broad changes he tried to introduce constituted policymaking that must be accomplished through the legislative process. The court ordered the governor to go back to the previous AFDC program until reforms could be enacted into law. When the administration moved slowly on changes, the court took the extraordinary step of holding the governor and the secretary of Human Services in civil contempt in December.

The day after the Supreme Court voided the PROGRESS plan, the Legislature's executive council appointed a bipartisan welfare reform committee that included members from the governor's office and the Department of Human Services. Speaker Raymond Sanchez explained that the court decision required cooperation. "This isn't anybody's victory. It's an opportunity to bring the executive and legislative branches together."

WORKING TOGETHER

The committee worked through the considerable differences between Democratic and...