Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham rejects 35 bills total from the 2025 Legislature

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham flexed her veto muscles Friday, striking down bills dealing with lobbyist disclosure, new custom license plates and making tortillas New Mexico’s official state bread.

The vetoes angered lawmakers and advocates who had worked on the issues, after Lujan Grisham accused legislators of passing some of the bills instead of approving more crime-related measures.

In addition to 18 bills she vetoed from this year’s session, 16 happening Friday, Lujan Grisham also pocket vetoed 17 bills — meaning she didn’t sign them by the deadline and doesn’t have to explain her reasoning. The rejected bills included measures aiming to increase housing affordability and accessibility, bar state universities from denying students’ admission based on immigration status, change the New Mexico Gaming Control Board and update the state’s Sunshine Portal.

Rep. Sarah Silva, D-Las Cruces, in a statement described the governor’s veto of her lobbyist transparency measure as ironic, as it “would have given us information about who lobbied the governor to veto this bill — and without it, we have no way to know.”

The measure would’ve required lobbyists, or their employers, to file reports disclosing stances on bills they’re influencing and, if those stances change, to update the report within 48 hours.

Lujan Grisham, in her veto message, said she supports the intent of lobbyist transparency legislation but described the bill as “onerous” for lobbyists and their employers.

She also said the 48-hour update deadline doesn’t take into account weekends or holidays, it isn’t clear how the measure affects lobbyists after session adjournment, and the bill doesn’t define what sort of change in position would trigger an updated report. She added that she wants to see elected officials with a donor base disclose their changes in position.

“I look forward to working with the Legislature in the next session on a bill that really adds transparency and accountability,” Lujan Grisham wrote in her veto message.

Dick Mason, an unpaid lobbyist with the League of Women Voters, said in an interview he expects Lujan Grisham to put this bill on her call in the regular 2026 session, which is limited to funding matters and legislation she deems relevant. It’s Lujan Grisham’s last regular session, as her term ends by 2027.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, said he’s even more fired up to introduce the effort again in the future, with the addition of requiring disclosures for the amount of money going toward lobbying.

“(The veto) showed a lack of appreciation for the serious lack of disclosure we’re actually dealing with, with people that are influencing policy,” he told the Journal.

Three other veto messages this year were duplicates of one another: the explanations for not making the tortilla the official state bread and not creating lowrider or New Mexico United license plates.

“I am vetoing this legislation to send a clear message: in a time of extraordinary challenges, New Mexicans need discipline and urgency from their elected officials. What they received this session was far too often the opposite,” the governor wrote in her veto message.

She also referenced the mass shooting that happened in Las Cruces in the late hours of the penultimate day of the session, “that went unacknowledged by House leadership, (and) the House found time to debate the merits of a state bread. And the Legislature found time to pass not one, not two, but three separate license plate bills — despite already having 40 specialty plates on the books.”

The message is reflective of her initial thoughts post-session, when she expressed her disappointment in what she described as a lack of accountability for criminals in New Mexico.

She at the time mused the merits of calling another public safety special session, but somewhat walked back on that recently after discussions with lawmakers who have urged her to take more time considering what the results of a special session would look like. The Democrat majority last year ended a crime special session after just five hours, not passing any of the governor’s agenda.

“We are living in perilous and unprecedented times. The stakes for our state have never been higher,” the governor wrote in her veto message. “We need a Legislature that rises to the occasion and focuses on the work that truly matters to the people of New Mexico.”

Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, took issue with some of the governor’s vetoes and her accusations that lawmakers did not take crime-related issues seriously.

“To criticize a legislator because their constituents wanted something is kind of shallow,” he told the Journal.

Though rare, the Legislature can override the governor’s vetoes by two-thirds’ votes in the 2026 session or, if it happens, a special session.