Ready, set, legislate! Lawmakers poised to move key bills quickly once 30-day session begins 

SANTA FE — Most legislative sessions start slow and gradually build to a frantic, sleep-deprived crescendo.

But the 30-day legislative session that begins Tuesday at the state Capitol could see quick action, as leading Democratic lawmakers have vowed to fast-track bills dealing with health care, roads and immigration detention facilities to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk.

A similar approach was also used during last year's 60-day session as a way to get bills passed in advance of the legislative logjam that typically takes place in a session's final days.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said the bills set to move quickly have been studied in the run-up to this year's session and debated in previous legislative sessions.

"I think there are four bills that have had a lot of work, have made a lot of progress in prior sessions and are ready to go," Wirth told the Journal, referring specifically to two interstate medical compact bills, a $1.5 billion road bonding bill and legislation prohibiting New Mexico local governments from contracting with federal agencies to detain immigrants for civil violations.

He also said a bill backed by Lujan Grisham to expand the grounds for involuntary mental health commitment will move quickly in the Senate during the session's opening week, though he said the bill could find trickier footing in the House. 

House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, said she has mixed feelings on the legislative blitzkrieg strategy, as Republicans at times draw out debate on bills — each bill can be debated on the House floor for three hours under the chamber's rules — in an attempt to slow how quickly Democratic-backed legislation can advance.

"I think fast-tracking on bipartisan (bills) is OK, but fast-tracking on controversial bills is hard," she said.

She also said Republicans — who are outnumbered by Democrats in both the House and Senate — would propose a range of bills dealing with health care and public safety issues.

"We're focused on playing defense, but we're also bringing forward ideas," Armstrong said in an interview.

For his part, House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said affordability would be a driving focus during this year's session, citing efforts to increase funding for affordable housing and prevent steep health care premium increases for some New Mexico residents.

He also said legislators would debate more proposals dealing with New Mexico's long-troubled child welfare system, but expressed misgivings about bills to increase criminal penalties for violent juvenile offenders without also expanding treatment and prevention programs.

"What I'm not going to do is lock up kids and throw away the key," Martínez told the Journal. "That does not work. It has not worked in the past and it's not going to work now."

Bills proposed during last year's session to expand New Mexico's criminal code for juvenile offenders and extend the length of probation for released underage defendants both failed to win approval.

Governor's last chance to shape legacy

This year's session marks Lujan Grisham's final regular session as governor, as she is barred under the state Constitution from seeking a third consecutive term this year.

With her tenure nearing its end, the governor has asked lawmakers to fund a universal child care initiative she announced in September. So far, legislators have balked at the request, as it was not funded in a legislative budget plan released this month.

Lujan Grisham will deliver her final State of the State Address to lawmakers on the session's opening day on Tuesday, but her approach to the issue has rankled some lawmakers.

"I think she went about it all wrong," Armstrong said of the universal child care initiative. "She put us in a really tough position."

Leading Democratic lawmakers have sounded a more conciliatory tone, though Wirth acknowledged New Mexico's two previous governors — Democrat Bill Richardson and Republican Susana Martinez — did not have much success with legislators as their terms drew to a close.

"There's no question that there's a transition that's happening, but I'm encouraged there have been communications with Gov. Lujan Grisham and I think there's still a lot of good things we can do and super important things we can do," Wirth said.

While Lujan Grisham has sparred with Democratic legislative leaders over crime-related issues in recent years, she's continued to work with top-ranking lawmakers on bills on other topics.

That includes an effort to codify in state law a 2019 executive order that directed New Mexico to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. The governor is expected to include the so-called Clear Horizons Act on the agenda for this year's session — though its approval is far from certain.

"The governor is a steadfast leader, and she's got big ideas that she often proposes to the Legislature," Martínez said. "Some of them have come to fruition and others have not, and I don't expect that to change." 

A slow burn on some hot-button bills

While lawmakers could act in the session's opening days to advance some measures, the fates of other proposals likely won't be decided until the session's final days.

That could include proposals to change New Mexico's medical malpractice system, which was revamped in 2021 but has continued to generate fierce debate at the Roundhouse in subsequent years. 

House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, said during a Friday news conference she's planning to file legislation protecting doctors' personal assets from being seized under medical malpractice cases.

"No physician should face losing their home or their vehicle as the result of a medical malpractice case," Szczepanski said.

Rep. Jenifer Jones, R-Deming, has also filed a medical malpractice bill that she said would help stabilize New Mexico's health care system, and other proposals could also emerge.

New Mexico is facing a worsening health care provider shortage, as the state is projected to be 2,118 doctors short by 2030, according to a Cicero Institute report.

In addition, a legislative survey of physicians who work or previously worked in New Mexico found about 65% of doctors said they were considering relocating out of state. New Mexico's medical malpractice laws that do not cap punitive damages were the most common reason cited by doctors who participated in the survey.

Fred Nathan, the executive director of Think New Mexico, a Santa Fe-based think tank that has advocated for changes to the state's medical malpractice law and other health care-related legislation, expressed optimism about such measures winning approval during this year's session.

"The need to address the doctor and healthcare worker shortages is becoming more urgent and as a consequence it is more likely that there will be forward progress achieved this session on medical malpractice reform as well as joining all 10 of the interstate healthcare worker compacts," Nathan said.

However, the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association has opposed recent proposals to overhaul New Mexico's medical malpractice laws and insisted critics' claims are overblown.

Feliz Rael, the group's president, said the state Trial Lawyers Association is only aware of one case in which a doctor had to pay out of his personal assets. That case involved the watering down of chemotherapy treatments, Rael said.

As the debate has simmered, Lujan Grisham has increasingly supported the push to change New Mexico's medical malpractice laws in recent years, and Wirth said the Governor's Office has convened recent talks between hospital officials, lawyers and other involved parties.

"Having been in the middle of many of these negotiations, we've been able to make changes when the parties are able to find that sweet spot," Wirth said. 

Budget fights taking shape

The only bill lawmakers technically must pass during the 30-day session is a new spending bill for the fiscal year that begins in July.

House and Senate budget-writing committees already started holding hearings last week to jump-start the process, including hearing presentations from state agency leaders.

So far, the biggest difference between the governor's spending plan and a Legislative Finance Committee plan is funding for the universal child care initiative. While the governor proposed spending an additional $160 million in the coming year on state-subsidized child care assistance, the legislative plan would only earmark about $10 million in additional funding for the program.

Armstrong predicted the issue would be one of the biggest fights of this year's session, saying the governor's plan is "just not affordable" and could undermine family values.

Martínez, who led a 2022 push to increase the annual distributions from a state permanent fund for early childhood programs, said he supports the concept of universal child care but said there are "philosophical" differences of opinion about how such a system should be built out.

Meanwhile, changes to the state's tax code could also generate debate at the Roundhouse. 

After the Governor's Office floated the idea, Wirth said he's warmed to the idea of crafting a tax package using non-recurring dollars that could have a set expiration date of three years after enactment. Such a package could include tax breaks for medical providers and New Mexico's burgeoning quantum industry.

"I actually think that's fiscally responsible given all the headwinds coming from Washington," Wirth said.

While New Mexico state spending has increased by more than 70% since 2019, projected state revenue levels were pared back late last year in part due to impacts of a federal budget bill signed by President Donald Trump.

Top Democratic legislators say New Mexico is poised to weather the uncertainty — at least for now — due to the decision in recent cash-flush years to set aside some money in trust funds for future use.

But Republicans have argued more of the state's budget surplus should be returned to taxpayers, either by reducing the state's personal income tax or providing rebates.

With the state's revenue growth showing signs of cooling off, debate at the Roundhouse on such issues could intensify — especially in a 30-day session in which time is at a premium.

"I just want everyone to get along," said Armstrong, "but unfortunately that's not how politics works." 

Dan Boyd covers state government and politics for the Journal in Santa Fe. Follow him on X at @DanBoydNM or reach him via email at dboyd@abqjournal.com.