Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham gestures during her State of the State address on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday she believes this legislative session will be the one in which lawmakers send to her desk reforms that would connect mental health treatment to people who are accused of crimes, but are unable to stand trial.
“I’m very grateful for the bipartisan, very effective, incredible work by so many legislators who are working to do both: invest in the prevention and compassionate supportive treatment,” Lujan Grisham said at a news conference, flanked by police, some of her cabinet members and lawmakers from both parties.
“We aren’t going to vilify poverty or mental health issues but we aren’t going to tolerate a revolving door of criminality anywhere in this state. We can do both,” she said.
Lujan Grisham said a proposal that would expand the state court system’s existing process for determining whether people facing criminal charges are competent to stand trial is “really critical.”
A bill from House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) would allow courts to order people who are accused of felony-level crimes and are found incompetent to stand trial to participate in community competency restoration programs, without necessarily requiring them to be in a locked facility.
Changing New Mexico’s criminal competency law to make it easier to find someone dangerous and put them in a locked facility for treatment was one of the proposals that Lujan Grisham brought for the special session in the summer; advocates said her bill could have led to unjust outcomes, while lawmakers in her own party declined to sponsor it during the gathering in July at the Roundhouse.
Chandler said she believes her bill strikes an appropriate balance between incarcerating people who commit violent felonies and are not competent to stand trial, and enhancing opportunities for them to be brought to a point where they can participate in their own defense.
“Those individuals simply get released if they are not deemed competent and they do not get any services, and I think that’s a heartbreaking thing that we all as a society in this state should be addressing,” she said.
That bill received its first hearing on Tuesday afternoon in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee.
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Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman is proposing an overhaul of New Mexico’s Delinquency Act, which governs how the state can hold children accountable for behavior that would be considered criminal if they were over 18.
Bregman said Tuesday crime overall is getting better but “violent juvenile crime is out of control,” and he doesn’t believe young people face consequences when they first enter the criminal legal system.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time when it comes to juvenile crime,” he said. “We can give the necessary behavioral health, family-intervention type treatment. And at the same time, we can also have consequences. It does not have to be an either or.”
One of the proposals he wants, being carried this session by Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas (D-Albuquerque), would increase the penalty for unlawful possession of a gun from a misdemeanor to a fourth-degree felony.
Lujan Grisham said she “really wants” the bill passed because too many people are getting firearms shortly after getting out of prison.
That bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee but as of press time had not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
Lujan Grisham said there is the potential for an omnibus public safety package, containing multiple changes to the state’s criminal laws, reaching her desk “before the midway point” in the session.
“I feel pretty confident we are further along than I think they’ve ever been on a robust package, and I’ve been working with the Legislature for about four years,” she said.
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