New Mexico committee advances universal childcare to House floor
From left to right: Meribeth Densmore, Deputy Director of the State Budget Division of Health and Human Services; Elizabeth Groginsky, Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Early Childhood Education and Care; and New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee Deputy Director Kelly Klundt presented universal child care proposals to the Senate Finance Committee on January 29, 2026. The bill to create a universal child care program was introduced to Parliament on February 17, 2026. (Danielle Prokop/Source NM)
Just after midnight Tuesday, a New Mexico House committee introduced a bill that would enact universal child care that would require high-income families to pay co-payments under certain economic conditions, such as unexpected enrollment, inflation and falling oil prices.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made a high-profile promise last year that New Mexico would be the first state to offer free universal child care, but funding for the program remained a point of contention throughout the 2026 Legislative session.
House Appropriations and Finance Committee agreed Senate Bill 241The Child Care Assistance Program Act, along party lines, makes several changes to the bill passed by the Senate last week.
Committee changed the bill reduce the amount available to the state from $11 billion Early Childhood Education and Care Trust Fund Between $1 billion and $700 million will be paid for the program over the next five years. This would still allow funds from the trust fund to cover the program’s variable costs for the next five years.
The House amendments clarify that public, private, nonprofit, for-profit and faith-based child care operations, as well as tribal facilities, can participate in the program.
Finally, the bill requires all participating child care facilities to impose fees scaled based on teachers’ backgrounds and qualifications; advocates also pushed for it during the session.
“This will really provide a more stable and predictable supply of child care and address workforce compensation,” Department of Early Childhood Education and Care Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky told MPs late Monday.
Republicans on the committee said that even though the bill improved, the cost of the program was still too high.
Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences) said paying for universal child care would directly impact the state’s budget and that she’s “not counting on guardrails” to protect herself from rising costs.
“This is the introduction of a universal entitlement program with no need for federal contribution, no employer contribution, no employee contribution,” Dow said at the committee meeting. “This puts a huge burden on all the other services that we need to go back home and talk about, whether that’s aged care, personal care services, keeping rural facilities open.”
In a statement released after the vote, House sponsor Rep. Doreen Gallegos (D-Las Cruces) called the bill a “high-quality, sustainable framework for universal child care.”
He said New Mexico has “worked for more than a decade to create a nation-leading early childhood education and care system.” Creating a high-quality, sustainable framework for universal child care is our next big step forward.”
The bill next goes to the House floor.
