Crime package headed to full House, despite criticism about its scope and focus

SANTA FE — A crime package headed to the House floor would boost penalties for fentanyl trafficking, school shooting threats, auto theft and certain firearm conversion devices.

The package, House Bill 8, includes six different crime-related bills, including a change in how New Mexico treats criminal defendants who are deemed incompetent to stand trial.

After being rolled out, it passed the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday on a party-line 7-4 vote, with Republicans saying the legislation falls short in its aim of reducing New Mexico’s elevated violent crime rate.

“I just feel like this crime package doesn’t go far enough to address crime,” said Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque, who specifically lamented it does not include tougher penalties for juvenile criminal defendants.

Even some Democrats expressed reservations with the public safety package, saying they opposed some of the bills that were ultimately included.

“Packages are hard to vote on when you may disagree with certain parts,” said Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe.

However, backers said the crime package would dovetail with a separate behavioral health package advancing in the Senate to bolster New Mexico’s approach to crime, homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse issues.

The strategy of adding multiple bills into a single package, or omnibus bill, is not a new one at the Roundhouse, as Democratic lawmakers have used it to address crime and tax changes in recent years.

Proponents say package is just a start

The crime package is not “perfect,” acknowledged Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, on Wednesday, who has worked for months to craft the competency bill.

But she said the bills selected for the package had been vetted in previous House committees and had received bipartisan support.

“I felt that it was important to have bills where we got some consensus and we felt that people could get behind,” Chandler told the Journal.

Public safety has emerged as a key issue during the 60-day legislative session that started last month, with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham exhorting lawmakers to enact stiffer criminal penalties and make it easier to keep defendants accused of certain violent crimes in jail pending trial.

The governor last year called a special session on crime that ended with lawmakers largely ignoring her public safety-focused agenda.

Lujan Grisham has not backed down, however, and urged lawmakers during a recent interview to stop being “risk adverse” in their approach to crime.

New Mexico’s violent crime rate was almost twice the national average as of 2023, though FBI data showed a drop in reported property and violent crime from 2022 to 2023.

Too far or not far enough?

Even as Republicans said the crime package does not go far enough, a coalition of advocacy groups said it would create new crimes, lengthen sentences and potentially force New Mexicans into psychiatric facilities that have not yet been built.

“While the proposal makes significant improvements from the proposals of the 2024 special session, (the crime package) still relies principally on coerced care and forced hospitalization, which we know often exacerbate the very problems they seek to fix,” said Lana Weber, the interim director of public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.

But Chandler defended the proposed approach to criminal competency, which would give judges more options for ordering defendants into court-run diversion programs.

“I think people are rightfully concerned that we need greater accountability/treatment mechanisms for those individuals who have basically just been released and put back on the street and they’re not getting cared for,” she said.

Chandler also said the crime package could be amended as it moves forward through the legislative process.

“This isn’t the end. This is obviously just the start. But I think it’s a really good start,” she said.

“I think it sends a strong message to the citizens of the state that we are ready, able and willing to address public safety, while at the same time working to rebuild our behavioral health system,” added Chandler.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said the crime package could be voted on by the full House of Representatives in the coming days.