OPINION: Governor should sign lobbying transparency bill

At this moment, special interest groups are trying to sway Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham one way or another as she contemplates signing bills from the 2025 legislative session into law. But we don’t know which lobbyists are making plays as we approach the April 11 deadline. And that’s a problem. Our state doesn’t require organizations and lobbyists to disclose what particular bills they are working for or against. But one bill waiting for a signature, House Bill 143, would change that. The bill would require lobbyists to disclose which bills they worked on and their position. The public deserves to know how bills are made and who tried to influence them. Lujan Grisham should sign this common-sense bill to improve transparency and the public’s trust in the legislative process.

Lobbying isn’t a problem. Lobbyists in the Roundhouse can be valuable resource because of their expertise and subject-matter knowledge. They are well organized and can shed light on any unintended consequences of legislation, and help humanize issues with testimony from affected parties. They can keep doing that work. This bill wouldn’t restrict lobbying. Experts and interest groups should be able to voice their perspectives to lawmakers. But by operating in the shadows, their work creates distrust among voters and gives the appearance that lawmakers are serving special interests and government insiders instead of voters.

Opponents of the measure say the bill would create bureaucratic red tape and steer experts away from participation. But the disclosure process could be streamlined with a simple online portal, and there’s plenty of time to work out any glitches before the new rules begin in 2027. And the critics’ argument also misses a crucial point: The status quo is a problem. OpenSecrets.org, in a 2022 report, compared lobbying disclosure trends across different states and ranked New Mexico near bottom. The bill shouldn’t be politically controversial. Our neighboring liberal and conservative states have much better lobbying disclosure scores. OpenSecrets gave Colorado a score of 18 out of 20. Texas scored a 16.25. New Mexico, meanwhile, was scored at 8.25.

The time is right for change. Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, has been introducing similar bills for roughly 15 years. All the efforts stalled. But this year, New Mexico welcomed in a new crop of lawmakers. There were 28 new senators and representatives, along with changes in leadership and committees. The new lawmakers, which include the bill’s other sponsor, Rep. Sarah Silva, D-Las Cruces, were able to avoid falling into a trap of: It’s something we do because it’s something we’ve done. At a time when the public trust in government is near the historic low, adding more transparency to the lawmaking process will only help reverse that trend.

The cost of such disclosures is negligible. A fiscal impact report found HB143 would have a one-time cost of $60,000 to $65,000 to set up the reporting system, and then a paltry $11,000 annual cost to maintain the module.

During her first campaign for governor, Lujan Grisham participated in a debate hosted by the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. During her remarks, she said: “I spent my entire career fighting for transparency and open government, because I find all too often that government is closed, secret and unaccountable.” She pledged that if elected she would usher in a “new culture of government openness.” And because of the work of this year’s Legislature, an opportunity for her to do just that is literally sitting on her desk.