Mikalah Ellis, a member of Saving Kids from Incarceration, and Leonor Trujillo, a member of Millions for Prisoners New Mexico, built a memorial for the Barron Jones and Kelly Garcia-Chavez, two late champions for incarcerated New Mexicans, during a rally on in the rotunda at the New Mexico Legislature on Feb. 10, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
This legislative session is the first one in many years without the physical presence of the late Barron Jones, a journalist, policy advocate with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and formerly incarcerated person.
But his spiritual presence could be felt in the Roundhouse on Monday during a rally in support of a package of legislative proposals to address the root causes of harm.
Organizers put up an enlarged photo of Jones, who lived in Albuquerque and was originally from Detroit. Next to Jones’ photo was one of the late Kelly Garcia-Chavez, a jailhouse lawyer from Las Vegas, New Mexico, and another ACLU-NM member.
Her partner Joe Chavez is still held in the Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe, just up the road from the Capitol.
“I’m so grateful that we’re honoring Barron Jones, because it doesn’t feel the same without him, and also it doesn’t feel the same without Kelly,” said Courtney Montoya, community engagement specialist with ACLU-NM. “Her fierce advocacy is the reason so many of us are still here.”
The event was part of “End Mass Incarceration Day” at the New Mexico Legislature, hosted by
Millions for Prisoners New Mexico, ACLU-NM, The Sentencing Project and the Abolish Slavery National Network.
Formerly incarcerated people and relatives of New Mexicans in prison are pushing for seven bills that they say not only address specific injustices, but also work to build a more equitable, inclusive and democratic society.
House Joint Resolution 10, carried by Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Albuquerque), would establish universal suffrage in New Mexico by asking voters to amend the state Constitution to eliminate felony convictions as a basis for canceling voter registration.
Justin Allen said he and other advocates have been waiting for universal suffrage to become a reality, even after new state law went into effect in 2023 that restored voting rights to people with felony convictions as soon as they get out of prison, including those who are still on probation or parole.
“Now is our time,” he said. “We won’t be silenced, and we’re going to continue to fight for this until it’s passed.”
Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) hosted the advocates as guests on the House floor in the morning, and Rep. Tara Lujan (D-Santa Fe) joined them at an event in the Rotunda.
Later in the afternoon, Sens. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque), Shannon Pinto (D-Tohatchi) and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) took turns stepping out of their committee meetings to join a rally and news conference outside the Roundhouse.
“Putting so many people in our prisons for such a long period of time is not solving any kind of social problems,” Sedillo Lopez said. “It’s not dealing with the crime issues. Extended long prison sentences don’t do anything about recidivism.”
Sedillo Lopez and Rep. Janelle Anyanonu (D-Albuquerque) will sponsor a bill called the Election Resilience Act, which would provide for absentee ballot access in congregate settings like hospitals and shelters through Absentee Mobile Voting Units that could also respond during emergencies, according to a fact sheet from Millions for Prisoners.
Roybal Caballero will also sponsor a resolution that would ask voters to decide whether to amend the state Constitution to eliminate slavery or involuntary servitude in New Mexico, including within the prison system.
“We were taught that slavery ended in 1865. I don’t know about you all, but something that has an exception is not abolished,” said Dennis Febo, founder and lead organizer for the Abolish Slavery National Network. “For us to tell the story that slavery was abolished in the United States of America is a straight up lie.”
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Bill watch
The Roundhouse stayed busy over the weekend. The Senate Conservation Committee advanced legislation to implement a $340 million fund for investments in communities impacted by climate change as part of Senate Pro Tem Mimi Stewart’s (D-Albuquerque) Senate Bills 48 and 49. Those bills head to Senate Finance next.
On the other side of the third floor, the House Judiciary Committee on Saturday passed two public safety bills forward in advance of additional proposals in the queue for later this week. One would more severely punish the crime of threatening to shoot people and the other would group together the sentences for four different crimes related to stealing motor vehicles.
A proposal to put a constitutional amendment to change the process for hiring a Children Youth and Families Secretary eked through the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on a 4-3 party line vote.
House Joint Resolution 5 would have to receive approval from voters, would shift the power to hire the CYFD lead from the governor’s office to establish a commission which would have members appointed by legislative leadership and the governor. HJR5 now heads to its second committee: House Judiciary.
On Monday morning, lawmakers advanced legislation that would allow Native students to wear culturally significant items for graduations. Read more here.
In the Senate Judiciary committee Monday afternoon, Chair Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) said two bills to establish the authority for a state surface water permitting program would require additional work and said the committee would reexamine them Wednesday.
Senate Bill 21, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth with cosponsor Rep. Kristina Ortez (D-Taos), would give New Mexico the power to regulate pollution in streams and rivers, which is currently managed by the federal government. Senate Bill 22, sponsored by Wirth and Sen. Heather Berghmans (D-Albuquerque), would work to establish the water quality permitting program at the New Mexico Environment Department. Read more here.
The House Health and Human Services Committee pushed through House Bill 186, sponsored by Majority Floor Leader Reena Szczepanski, on a 6-4 vote. HB 186 would appropriate $2 million for the Health Care Authority for an expansion of the state’s Medicaid plan and adopt a sliding scale payment system. The bill now heads to its second committee: House Appropriations and Finance.
The committee also advanced House Bill 138, one of the two bills going through the Legislature that would ensure minimum staffing ratios in hospitals. It is headed next to the House Judiciary Committee.
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