ALBUQUERQUE — A 2nd Judicial District judge has sided with state officials in rejecting a lawsuit seeking to upend the foundational rules underpinning New Mexico’s nascent universal childcare program.
Judge Elaine Lujan ruled Thursday the lawsuit, filed in April by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez, was moot, given the state Legislature acted earlier this year to fund the program.
The lawsuit was filed by Rodriguez, fellow onetime Republican gubernatorial hopeful Sen. Steve Lanier and Rio Rancho businessman Zachary Anaya, who lost his GOP primary for a state House seat in June.
The case has become a source of political vitriol between Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and onetime Republican candidates for elected office, with state officials arguing the lawsuit — while trivial — caused a panic among families about the future of the program.
“Today, Second Judicial District Judge Elaine Lujan dismissed a frivolous challenge to New Mexico’s universal child care program,” Lujan Grisham wrote in a social media post Thursday afternoon. “This program is lawful, and it will continue to serve New Mexico families.”
Michael Coleman, spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, added, “The lawsuit — nothing more than a cheap political stunt disguised as a constitutional claim — caused New Mexico’s working families undue worry about their access to the program.”
Rodriguez and other plaintiffs in the lawsuit have fired back, arguing the state overstepped its authority in rolling out universal childcare and calling it an example of Lujan Grisham’s unilateral decision-making.
“Just because the governor thinks she has a great idea doesn’t mean she gets to write the law and enforce the law. She is not a queen, she is not a monarch, she has to be subject to the law like everybody else,” said attorney and former lawmaker Jacob Candelaria after the hearing.
Candelaria said the plaintiffs plan to appeal the judge’s ruling to the state Supreme Court. He referred to the ruling as a “setback,” but also only a “procedural win.”
“I’m disappointed in the ruling. I’m not surprised,” Rodriguez added. “… Just because she’s won today does not mean that she’s going to win the final debate on this issue.”
The lawsuit argued the state jumped the gun by rolling out rules making access to its childcare assistance program universal and free, all before the Legislature approved funding for the initiative.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her administration announced their intention to make childcare universally accessible in September. The initiative launched that November, with thousands of children and families taking advantage of it since then.
The state insisted it was funded for the initiative, though legislative fiscal analyses later found the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department started overspending on the program almost immediately. Nevertheless, lawmakers reached a funding deal during this year’s legislative session with the passage of Senate Bill 241 to allow the state to draw up to $700 million over the next several fiscal years from New Mexico’s early childhood trust fund.
Rodriguez and the other plaintiffs argued that timeline skirted the Legislature’s authority and violated the New Mexico Constitution’s separation of powers. They asked the judge to pause its enforcement of the rules expanding eligibility for state-subsidized childcare to all families, among other regulations.
“The rights at issue in this hearing are the rights of every single New Mexican to a free and republican form of government, where the powers of the branches of government are separate, where they check each other, where they stay in their lane, and where the public ultimately is sovereign,” Candelaria said during the hearing.
He added, “Allowing this agency to create law in whole cloth the way they have done here would violate … that important right of every single New Mexican.”
The Lujan Grisham administration, however, argued in a recent court filing the lawsuit was “moot” since SB 241 had already been passed and was in effect. The state’s response argued the law instructed the early childhood department “to operate the Program exactly as it is now operating it,” and on Thursday called on Lujan to toss the lawsuit.
Holly Agajanian, chief general counsel for Lujan Grisham, also argued Thursday that as the state has incrementally expanded eligibility for state-subsidized childcare over the years, the Legislature has continued to fund the program and affirm the early childhood department’s ability to administer the program.
“The Legislature already answered the question of whether or not ECECD was acting within the scope of their authority,” Agajanian said.
Ultimately, Lujan, the judge, agreed with the state that the issue was resolved by the passage of SB 241.
“The Legislature has now acted. It has enacted Senate Bill 241, authorizing the public program at issue,” she said at the conclusion of Thursday’s hearing. “… Therefore, the constitutional claim based on the separation of powers is moot.”
