SANTA FE — New Mexico lawmakers’ budget watchdog has quietly posted a new report raising fresh alarms about the state’s administration of the federal food assistance program, noting that while benefit processing has improved, the state’s payment error rate has worsened, potentially exposing taxpayers to tens of millions of dollars in added costs.

The Legislative Finance Committee’s Program Evaluation Unit released the “Status Update on LFC Program Evaluation of SNAP Administration and Performance” dated January 19, 2026, outlining early findings and laying the groundwork for a deeper evaluation required by lawmakers later this year. The report comes after the Legislature, during the 2025 special session, directed LFC staff to complete a full evaluation of SNAP administration by July 2026, including “program integrity” issues such as fraud, waste and abuse.  

SNAP, administered federally by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and by the New Mexico Health Care Authority at the state level, provided roughly $1 billion in food benefits to approximately 460,000 New Mexicans across 230,000 households in federal fiscal year 2024, according to the report. LFC staff said New Mexico’s timeliness rate for delivering benefits improved dramatically, rising from 78% in FY24 to 98% in FY25, but the state’s payment error rate climbed from 14.61% in FY24 to 16.7% in the first quarter of FY25.  

Under recent changes in federal law referenced in the report, states with higher error rates could be required to shoulder more of the program’s costs. LFC staff warned New Mexico has until October 2026 to reduce its error rate or face added costs of up to $173 million.  

The report’s release also lands amid heightened national scrutiny of benefit integrity, with major criminal cases emerging in other states involving trafficking and theft of SNAP benefits. Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts last month announced charges alleging a scheme that trafficked nearly $7 million in SNAP benefits.  

LFC staff indicated its upcoming evaluation will review staffing, processes, operations and integrity safeguards.