Governor says pared-back special session part of deal with top Democratic legislators

SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she initially wanted a broad buffet of issues on the agenda for a special legislative session, but agreed to a pared-back menu after negotiations with top lawmakers.

The governor announced last week she will call legislators back to the Roundhouse for a special session starting Oct. 1. She said Monday that part of that agreement involves a commitment that Democratic leaders will fast track a package of high-profile bills to her desk during the 30-day session that starts in January.

That package could include proposals dealing with road funding, interstate medical compacts, juvenile crime and New Mexico’s three federal immigration detention facilities, the governor said.

Lujan Grisham initially wanted those issues on the special session agenda, along with a state-level funding package in response to federal budget changes approved by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.

But she said Democratic leaders in the House and Senate expressed a preference to focus on the federal budget impacts in the special session, and keep working on the other issues in the run-up to the 30-day legislative session that starts in January.

“It’s not a reflection that they’re unwilling to debate and give us good ideas,” Lujan Grisham said during a news conference at the state Capitol.

Instead of a robust special session agenda, the plan is to split the governor’s agenda between the special session, which is likely to last no longer than a few days, and the regular session, she said.

Lawmakers used a similar fast-track approach during this year’s 60-day session, sending a behavioral health package and a crime omnibus bill to Lujan Grisham’s desk by the session’s midway point.

But Republican lawmakers criticized Democrats for not passing many other crime-related bills during the second half of the session, including any bills dealing with violent juvenile offenders.

Since the end of the 60-day session in March, lawmakers have heard testimony from judges, prosecutors and others during interim committee hearings, and Lujan Grisham said she’s optimistic legislation dealing with juvenile crime could win approval during the 30-day session.

“I think there’s actually some good momentum by our Democratic leaders in that space,” she said.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said Tuesday that a bill dealing with juvenile offenders that passed the House but stalled in the Senate during this year’s session could be repackaged during the 30-day session.

He also said a group of bills dealing with interstate compacts for doctors, counselors, physical therapists and other health care professionals could also move quickly through the House of Representatives.

The interstate compact bills are intended to make it easier for out-of-state practitioners to work in New Mexico, but ending up stalling in a Senate committee during this year’s session due to legal concerns.

“There’s no reason not to fast track those bills,” Martínez told the Journal.

But he said the decision to narrowly focus the special session agenda on issues like rural hospitals, health care coverage and food assistance makes sense, given the outsized impacts New Mexico could face under a federal budget bill signed by President Donald Trump in July.

“The function of a special session should always be focused on the most immediate matters,” Martínez said.

He specifically cited possible premium increases that roughly 75,000 New Mexicans who get health care coverage through the state’s online insurance exchange could face, starting in January.

However, state Republicans have criticized the special session plan, saying issues like violent crime, child welfare and the state’s medical malpractice laws should also be added to the agenda.

New Mexico GOP Chairwoman Amy Barela described the special session as “political theater” and said the targeted issues could have already been addressed.

“If rural health care, affordable coverage, and food assistance were truly the priorities (the governor) claims, they would have been addressed years ago — not just now, under the cover of ‘emergency,’” Barela said.

Next year’s 30-day session will be Lujan Grisham’s final regular session as New Mexico governor, as she is barred under the state Constitution from seeking a third consecutive term in 2026.