New Mexico

Advocates push New Mexico lawmakers for stricter regulations on self-driving vehicle testing

Published

1 year ago

November 27, 2024

Advocates push New Mexico lawmakers for stricter regulations on self-driving vehicle testing

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Cars without drivers are making their way to New Mexico roads. But some advocates want to ensure people are safe.

“None of us are against the driverless ‘tech’; we just want to make sure it’s done right,” said Mike Sievers, a local attorney with experience in motor vehicle safety.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, there have been 130 crashes from 2021 to 2022 involving driverless cars. In 2021, New Mexico lawmakers passed a statute allowing self-driving vehicles to be tested on public roads, but with few requirements. One of those requirements is letting the NMDOT know about the testing just five days beforehand. Advocates told lawmakers they’d like to see a new bill passed with more teeth to it.

“There’s no doubt that that technology will advance someday, but as of right now, that technology isn’t at a point to where it’s safe for New Mexico highways,” they told lawmakers.

Some companies like Torc Robotics in Albuquerque are testing self-driving semi trucks on I-40 and I-25. Advocates want stronger regulation to include having a human on board to monitor the self-driving technology, requiring proof of risk minimization to the public, and the submission of safety data to the state. However, some are still skeptical about that data.

“Some of the data that these companies are going to present aren’t necessarily accurate to the fact of the real-world situation,” said one advocate. “They test these on sunny days; they don’t test them during snowstorms.”

Advocates also touched on the impact the growth of autonomous vehicles can have on the New Mexico workforce. “The job impact for this state, this is a poor state, and these are high-paying jobs,” said Tracy McCarty, a former long-haul driver whose family also owned a local trucking company here.

They also suggested lawmakers create separate legislation to support the changes in the workforce. They suggested creating a workforce recovery fund that would provide financial support and job training opportunities to workers who lose their jobs to driverless vehicles. They also suggest creating a driver displacement severance clause requiring companies to provide resources for displaced workers due to the changing technology.

“These are jobs that cover families with insurance, and just a standard of living, a lot of people in this state don’t have pensions for life. These are things the state can’t afford to lose,” said McCarty.

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New Mexico

New Mexico deserves speedier game commission appointments

Published

3 hours ago

January 9, 2026

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New Mexico deserves speedier game commission appointments

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New Mexico

What bills have been filed for New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session?

Published

15 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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What bills have been filed for New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session?

The governor sets the agenda for the session, including for the budget, so here is what they are looking at so far.

SANTA FE, N.M. — As the regular session of the New Mexico Legislature is set to begin Jan. 20, lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills.

Bills include prohibiting book bans at public libraries and protections against AI, specifically the distribution of sensitive and “Deepfake” images

Juvenile justice reform is, again, a hot topic. House Bill 25 would allow access to someone’s juvenile records during a background check if they’re trying to buy a gun.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sets the agenda and puts forth the proposed budget lawmakers will address during the session. The governor is calling for lawmakers to take up an $11.3 billion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which is up 4.6% from current spending levels.

Where would that money go? More than $600 million would go to universal free child care. Meanwhile, more than $200 million would go to health care and to protect against federal funding cuts.

There is also $65 million for statewide affordable housing initiatives and $19 million for public safety.

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New Mexico

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

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Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation
| Las Cruces Sun-News

After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.

It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.

Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.

Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:

Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).

What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.

That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.

With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.

New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.

But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.

Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.

What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility

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