STATE
NM approves $40M to rebuild rural behavioral health services
A state committee signed off on five regional plans covering areas from Roswell to Farmington, while debate over tribal funding allocations remains unresolved
The state committee tasked with rebuilding New Mexico鈥檚 behavioral health infrastructure last week approved more than $40 million in plans to restore services across several rural areas.
The 2025 charged a committee made up of behavioral health experts and state leaders to review proposals from 13 regions across the state 鈥� modeled after the state鈥檚 13 judicial districts 鈥� to rebuild behavioral health services after former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez鈥檚 fraud accusations led to an exodus of providers.
As of last week, the committee overseeing the effort had signed off on seven such plans. Nick Boukas, the executive committee chair and director of the state Health Care Authority鈥檚 Behavioral Health Services Division, told Source NM after the meeting that he hopes to sign off on the remaining six by the end of the year.
Lawmakers and have frequently expressed frustration at interim legislative committee hearings this year over the plan鈥檚 slow rollout, 鈥渘ebulous鈥� goals and varying local politics.
The five plans approved Friday covered the regions surrounding Roswell, Socorro, Farmington, Silver City and Clovis and identified funding priorities such as school-based behavioral health resources, crisis services and workforce development.
Regional plans can identify up to five such priority areas that local governments will address through the funding. Committee member Alanna Dancis, the state Health Care Authority鈥檚 acting Medicaid director, told her fellow committee members that she was concerned that many regional plans seemed to be 鈥渕issing half the population.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to in any way slow down the approvals of the plans, but I did not really see pregnancy or family housing mentioned very much,鈥� she said. That is 鈥渟omething I鈥檓 really looking at and continue to be very concerned that it doesn鈥檛 seem to be a priority of the regions.鈥�
A dispute over funding for pueblos, tribes, nations
After the committee approved the five plans, committee member Violette Cloud introduced several proposals aimed at changing how the committee awards money to pueblos, tribes and nations.
She said the funding formula the committee had long relied on had flaws in its underlying data and argued that the current structure could unfairly award some pueblos, tribes or nations more money than others.
Boukas, the committee chair, told Cloud he appreciated her concern but believed that voting on it Friday would be premature. He said he thought any need for course-correcting likely rests with the Legislature and added that it would be more appropriate after formal tribal consultation.
鈥淚 just feel like every time that we鈥檙e meeting and we鈥檙e trying to change, I think it鈥檚 very difficult for the accountable entities to try to keep up with what has changed,鈥� Boukas said.
While the committee didn鈥檛 take a vote on several of Cloud鈥檚 proposals, it did approve her motion to set aside 9.5% of the committee鈥檚 budget exclusively for pueblos, tribes and nations.
Under the prior funding formula, leaders from New Mexico鈥檚 pueblos, tribes and nations did not always have clarity of whether they were applying for their own pot of money or whether they were included by default in their corresponding region鈥檚 plan, Cloud said.
After the meeting, Boukas told Source NM that the approved change was aimed at 鈥渕aking sure that the tribal partners know how much they have to spend.鈥�
Source New Mexico is part of , the nation鈥檚 largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
