New Mexico
Deepfake disclosure bill passes NM House – Source New Mexico
A proposal to require public disclosure whenever a political campaign in the state uses false information generated by artificial intelligence in a campaign advertisement gained approval from the New Mexico House of Representatives on Monday night.
After about an hour of debate, the House voted 38-28 to pass House Bill 182, which would amend the state’s Campaign Reporting Act to require political campaigns to disclose whenever they use artificial intelligence in their ads, and would make it a crime to use artificially-generated ads to intentionally deceive voters.
The bill’s latest version passed by the House specifies the disclaimer’s exact wording that must be present when AI is used for any campaign material. That disclaimer must read, “This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence.”
To become law, HB 182 would still need to go through the committee process in the Senate, then a full Senate vote before the session adjourns at noon on Feb. 15. Then it would need to be signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The bill would not entirely prohibit using artificial intelligence in campaign ads, however.
Candidates running for office in New Mexico must disclose whenever they knowingly publish a deceptive ad within three months of an election with the intent of changing voters’ behavior. If they don’t, the proposal would make publishing the ad a misdemeanor and penalties would increase for additional violations.
HB 182 got the go-ahead from the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on Jan. 31. Eight days later, the House Judiciary Committee amended the proposal to further narrow the crime it creates to exclude things like media coverage of fake ads.
The committee clarified platforms like a radio station, newspaper, Facebook or Google would not violate the law if they publish, post or distribute fake ads so long as they tell the ad’s creator about the disclaimer requirement. House Majority Floor Leader Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque), the bill’s sponsor, said that change came after she spoke to representatives from Google about the bill.
“The distributor, if you will — whoever is putting this together professionally — just has to have a policy that reflects our law, letting its customers know that this is not allowed,” Chasey told the House. “If the individual doesn’t follow the policy that the platform has adopted, then it’s the individual who is liable if they don’t follow the law.”
It’s not up to the platform to police ads, Chasey said, but rather the person harmed by the ad must complain to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, which would then either refer the issue to the state Ethics Commission or the New Mexico Department of Justice.
The Ethics Commission can also bring their own case against someone under the Campaign Reporting Act, she said.
The version amended out of the Judiciary Committee also requires the disclaimers be in the same language as the ad itself, such as Spanish or Diné, she said.
Rep. James Townsend (R-Artesia) asked if it would have been easier to simply eliminate the use of AI in campaign ads altogether but Chasey said no, because that would violate the First Amendment right to free speech.
“It just seems like we are setting up a very slippery slope for anyone who uses information that they may gather off of the web,” Townsend said. “It’s going to cause a lot of problems and most of the things that will be accused of being wrong, the election will be long gone and over, the damage will be done, before this is ever decided.”
If someone uses AI to depict someone doing something they didn’t actually do, what’s called a “deepfake,” then there must be a disclaimer, Chasey said.
“We’re not saying you can’t say it,” she said.
At least four other states including Michigan have passed similar legislation, Chasey said. Other states have tried to address deepfakes in different ways, she added.
Over half the states in the country are considering similar legislation, according to a bill tracker run by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that supports Chasey’s bill.
SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
CLINES CORNERS, N.M. – The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
The fire is burning just east of Clines Corners, south of Interstate 40.
It forced the closure of eastbound Interstate 40 at Clines Corners on Tuesday night. I-40 reopened Tuesday night. I-40 is back open but smoke still affects visibility.
“We’re on the side of I-40 so drivers have to be pretty cautious. As far as our establishment itself we’re pretty isolated by the freeway itself as a nice fire break,” said Lincoln Tarantino, Clines Corner general manager.
The fire has burned around 852 acres, up from just 20 at this time Monday.
Crews say the fire is not contained and wind farms in the area are threatened.
New Mexico
Feds allowed millions of fentanyl pills to ‘walk’ on New Mexico streets: DEA Whistleblower
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