New Mexico to open session on food assistance and rural health care

New Mexico lawmakers will open a special legislative session Wednesday to increase funding for food assistance and rural health care after Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham urged preemptive state action to offset effects of recently enacted federal tax and program changes. Lawmakers plan to expand state subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans and set aside additional money for food aid and rural health services, officials said.

State Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, a Democrat, said the measures are intended to blunt the impact of the federal package. "We're not going to sit idly and watch that disaster happen," he said. New Mexico estimates it will lose about $200 million a year because of the federal tax changes beginning this fiscal year, but leaders say a surplus driven by oil production gives them room to respond.

California has already approved new spending to address similar federal shifts. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation allocating $255 million to respond to the federal changes, including $84 million aimed at reducing errors in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments, $40 million for counties to implement new work requirements in SNAP...