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Informing Injury Prevention Policy in New Mexico
Office of Injury Prevention, Injury and Behavioral Epidemiology Bureau
New Mexico Department of Health
Posted in: November, 2006
State law can play an important role in preventing injuries and saving lives. New Mexico, for example, has passed a number of important injury prevention bills since 1999, including a Graduated Licensing Law, an expansion of the Child Car Seat Law to include children up to five years of age, an expansion of the seat belt law to "All Positions, All The Time", a Child Booster Seat Law, and an expansion of the Off Highway Vehicle Safety Law (requiring education, helmets, and eye protection for all minors on all-terrain vehicles, off highway motorcycles and snowmobiles).
Although in many states, state employees (including those in public health departments) cannot explicitly support or oppose legislation, people in state injury prevention programs can still take steps to help legislators and the public make informed choices about whether to support or amend legislation designed to prevent injuries.
John McPhee, a Childhood Injury Prevention Coordinator with the New Mexico Department of Health, reports that in New Mexico, legislation endorsed by that state's governor is usually assigned to a state agency cabinet secretary or director, who can openly endorse the legislation. This could be, for example, the Secretary of Health or Transportation. State agencies also can help clarify the potential implications of bills by responding to requests for information from legislators and private organizations. McPhee reports that "as a state employee, I am regularly called to provide committee or floor testimony for the purpose of providing relevant data and explanation of language." Testimony by state employees other than the cabinet secretaries or agency directors is most often done at the request of the legislative sponsor in collaboration with the state agency sponsoring the bill.
McPhee says that:
On behalf of the Department of Health and SAFE KIDS Worldwide, I provide information to legislators upon their request, at their invitation. Most often, a legislator who is actually sponsoring the bill will request my presence at committee hearings and floor votes to provide data and other technical assistance. There is a cadre of legislators that we work with regularly. They are public health advocates. They get behind issues that have implications for public health.
New Mexico has a volunteer legislature that only meets for two months on odd numbered years and one month on even numbered years. Unlike in states with fulltime legislatures, New Mexico's legislators rarely have the time, staff or training to do the research needed to become fully informed about legislation. It is usually the responsibility of the sponsoring agency, nonprofits, and private citizens to provide our legislators with the facts that they can utilize in media interviews, committee hearings and floor debates to argue the merits of particular legislation.
Some of the most useful information is cost-benefit analyses. Comprehensive information about how safety legislation can save the taxpayers, as well as the families of victims, both taxes and insurance can be very useful. We've often relied upon information from CSN's National Resource Center and the CSN Economics and Data Resource Center, as well as Safe Kids Worldwide.
It is crucial to educate legislators and the public about the costs of nonfatal injuries. The media focus almost exclusively on fatalities, although cost-benefit analyses consistently demonstrate that, however tragic these fatalities are, nonfatal injuries are the greatest financial and emotional burden on families, as well as the taxpayers. This money is primarily used for transportation, employer subsidies, and job training. Injuries that prevent people from working are often even more expensive to address. A severe traumatic brain injury can cost the taxpayers $100,000 a year or more in home care and rehabilitation. Even if the person has good medical insurance coverage, the state typically is obligated to pay for much of the cost for long-term care.
It is important to provide clear and concise information regarding legislation that is introduced. For example, when we were asked for data about ATV injuries for justification of the proposed expansion of safety regulations in 2005, we provided information from one trauma center, which in one year had admitted 132 ATV injury patients at a cost of $2.4 million in emergency treatment and hospitalization. Since 25 percent of the residents of New Mexico are uninsured, we estimated that 25 percent, or $600,000, of that $2.4 million was paid for directly by the taxpayers. These facts were so concise and self-explanatory, they were used over and over in media, debates and testimony that led to the eventual passing of our current Off Road Vehicle Safety Law.
For more information on New Mexico's efforts, contact John McPhee, Childhood Injury Prevention Coordinator, Office of Injury Prevention, Injury and Behavioral Epidemiology Bureau, New Mexico Department of Health at 505-476-7858 or john.mcphee@state.nm.us