NM Legislature Day 1 recap: Gov and lawmakers reset after botched special session on crime

Sky City Buffalo Ram Dancers from Acoma Pueblo Perform in the New Mexico Capitol rotunda on Tuesday, the opening day of the legislative session. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)

The first day of the 2025 legislative session is over. Fifty-nine more to go. 

Over the course of the next two months, lawmakers will try to approve what is projected to be another record budget, find consensus on dozens of expected bills related to public safety and behavioral health, plus address various other crises like housing and health care. 

The 60-day session comes after lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham failed to agree on her set of crime proposals during a short-lived special session last summer. 

In her roughly 4,000-word State of the State speech on Tuesday, the governor again urged lawmakers to take action on crime, saying that that single issue is undermining progress on a variety of other fronts, like health care and the economy.

New Mexico Gov. unveils sweeping public safety proposals

“We have come so far together,” she told lawmakers in the State of the State. “But our crime problem destabilizes the very communities we seek to empower. It threatens the very prosperity of our state, in which we have invested so much.”

Read more about her speech here. 

Leaders in the Democratic party, which controls both legislative chambers, said they have made progress in recent months with the controversial and often complicated matters of civil commitment and criminal competency. 

As a result, they are optimistic a compromise will be reached, and possibly soon. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth told Source New Mexico that action is expected in the first 30 days of the session.

NM Senate Majority Leader expresses optimism about session

Republicans, meanwhile, said at a news conference following the governor’s speech that they felt vindicated but also frustrated by the governor’s new focus on tackling crime. The minority party leaders thought she devoted too much time, and is asking for too much money, when it comes to behavioral health. 

“She did acknowledge that we have serious crime problems, but she more focused on behavioral health than on what the real crime was,” said Sen. Bill Sharer (R-Farmington), Senate minority leader. “Republicans have been talking about real crime solutions for a long time.”

Over the next 60 days, New Mexicans can expect a new, more proactive messaging strategy from the GOP, leaders said, one that aims to reinforce what the Democrat majority is doing “to” the public, rather than “for” the public, Sharer said. 

“One of the things that we as Republicans have done forever is we have a press release and we say, ‘Oh, well, you know, this bad bill has passed,’” Sharer said. “Well, no, we want to let you all know before the bill passes, before the bill is even voted on, so that everybody outside this building knows what’s going on.”

Also on Tuesday, the first piece of legislation started making its way through the Legislature. Known as the “feed bill,” the bill approves money required to fund the 60-day session and the work of nonpartisan staff throughout the year. This year, that will cost taxpayers about $68 million, according to the bill. 

The bill passed the House on Tuesday and will head to the Senate on Wednesday. 

Both legislative chambers also elected new leaders and announced committee assignments. See a list below: