City council, mayor set and approve legislative wish list. Here's what's on it.

After a month of discussions, amendments, an ordinance and deferrals, the City Council has set and voted unanimously to approve its list of asks at the Roundhouse in January.

The Council’s list of requests to the Legislature ahead of the upcoming session is split among each council district by legislative proposals and community improvements requesting funding for construction projects, called capital outlay requests.

The only joint request on the capital outlay side comes from Councilors Louie Sanchez, Dan Lewis, Renée Grout and Dan Champine, who requested funding for updates and renovations to the city’s Shooting Range Park. City Councilor Brook Bassan voiced during Monday’s meeting that she also wants to be added to that effort.

On the policy side, Sanchez and Grout teamed up to ask for “Enhanced Penalties for Felons in Possession of a Firearm” and changes to the state’s criminal competency determination, which would change the process that determines if a defendant is fit mentally to stand trial.

The proposed change to the competency determination process states it would “create a process for raising the issue of competency and establish competency restoration programs.”

The Council also unanimously approved Mayor Tim Keller’s list of requests, which is largely centered around public safety and housing improvements.

“Mayor Keller’s legislative priorities are squarely focused on the issues that matter most to our residents — reducing homelessness, creating affordable housing, and fighting crime,” Keller spokesperson Staci Drangmeister said in a statement Monday night.

The legislative priorities list was introduced to the full City Council — and to the public — at the Nov. 4 meeting, then deferred to the next one.

At the next meeting, on Nov. 18, the Council passed an ordinance put forth by its most tenured member councilor, Klarissa Peña, aimed at streamlining the process and tightening up the lobbying priorities. However, procedure required the Council to defer voting on its priority list again because it passed the ordinance.

The ordinance collects all legislative projects from each councilor and narrows them down to the top six priorities — three legislative requests and three capital outlay requests — to be the city lobbyist’s focus in Santa Fe.

The opening day of the 60-day legislative session is Jan. 21.