AMENDED ORDER

KENNETH J. GONZALES, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court sua sponte and the Special Master's August 14, 2019, proposed increase to the budget for the Special Master and Compliance Officer salary.

The Court notes that certain employees of the State of New Mexico received a 4 percent pay increase in fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019.

The Court also notes all federal employees received a 1.9 percent Employment Cost Index (ECI) adjustment during fiscal year 2019 that includes a 1.4 percent across-the-board ECI adjustment and an average locality adjustment of 0.5 percent.

The Special Master and Compliance Officer both are acting in their duties in this case on behalf of the United States District Court.

The Court previously approved the budget for the Special Master, including that for salaries (Doc. 770).

The costs associated with the budget, including that for salaries of both the Special Master and Compliance Officer are paid by the State of New Mexico.

The Court also notes the progress made in this case, due to the efforts of the Special Master, Compliance Officer and the parties to eliminate significant backlogs in all program areas, achieve timeliness standards, and improve access to services for applicants and clients.

The Court finds a budget increase is reasonable and, therefore, approves a 4 percent increase to the budget for the Special Master and Compliance Officer salaries. Specifically, the Court approves a 1.9 percent ECI adjustment commensurate with that for federal employees and an additional 2.1 percent increase to achieve an increase commensurate with certain state employees, for a total 4 percent budget increase.

IT IS ORDERED that the Order (Doc. 770) approving the budget for the Special Master is amended as follows: