New Mexico

New Mexico Senate advances seven bills with few opponents – Source New Mexico

Published

2 years ago

February 9, 2024

New Mexico Senate advances seven bills with few opponents – Source New Mexico

The New Mexico Senate on Thursday passed seven pieces of legislation in a series of unanimous votes — with two narrow exceptions.

Senators passed Senate Bill 148 in a 34-0 vote. Sponsored by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Albuquerque), SB 148 would eliminate a 3% fee charged to local governments by the state Taxation and Revenue Department for collecting and distributing sales taxes.

The bill was a priority for the New Mexico Municipal League and New Mexico Counties.

If passed into law, it would begin phasing out the fee on July 1, 2026 and completely go away two years later.

Next, senators passed Senate Bill 300 in a 37-0 vote.

Sponsored by Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), SB 300 would allow the State Board of Finance to raise up to $527.8 million for building and maintaining state and federal highways.

Then, senators passed Senate Bill 129 in a 37-0 vote.

Sponsored by Sen. Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque), SB 129 would create minimum standards for state agencies to protect themselves from cyber attacks that threaten assets, private information or reputation.

The first exception of the day in the Senate was Senate Bill 135, which passed by a38-2 vote.

SB 135 would ensure doctors can ask health insurers to cover medications without the patient having to first try a cheaper version, a strategy insurers use to save money called “step therapy.”

The bill adds medications approved for treating substance use disorder, autoimmune disorders, behavioral health conditions and cancer to the list of drugs that cannot be subject to step therapy or prior authorization requirements.

The two opponents were Sens. Martin Hickey (D-Albuquerque) and Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque). Hickey said he supported the bill but it could lead to more complications and drug-to-drug interactions.

The second exception was Senate Bill 106, which passed in a 38-1 vote.

Sponsored by William Sharer, (R-Farmington), SB 106 which would create a committee to plan a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the U.S. on July 4, 2026.

The lone opponent was Sen. Brenda McKenna (D-Corrales) who did not take the opportunity to explain her vote.

Next, the Senate passed Senate Bill 17 in a 40-0 vote.

Sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Stefanics (D-Cerrillos), SB 17 would create a new program run by the Health Care Authority with the goal of maximizing the impact of state money for health care by redirecting money from certain hospitals to rural hospitals and small urban ones.

Finally, senators passed Senate Bill 108 in a 41-0 vote.

Sponsored by Muñoz, SB 108 would allow the Secretary of State’s Office to pull from a new $20 million pot of money three months after a statewide election, to stabilize the agency’s annual budget.

Each bill now heads the House chamber where they must receive committee review before a full vote. The New Mexico legislative session ends Feb. 15.

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New Mexico

Man charged in double homicide told New Mexico deputies a cockroach told him to kill

Published

1 day ago

November 9, 2025

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Man charged in double homicide told New Mexico deputies a cockroach told him to kill

A man is facing murder charges after allegedly admitting to deputies that he fatally shot two people inside a New Mexico home after receiving “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill,” authorities say.

Alexis Hernandez, 25, was arrested and charged with two open counts of murder in connection with a Friday incident inside a southwest Albuquerque home, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

Hernandez was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Saturday morning, and it is not immediately clear if he has retained a lawyer.

Authorities have not identified the men killed in the incident or the two young children who were also found inside the house at the time.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, deputies responded to reports of gunfire in southwest Albuquerque just before 10:30 p.m. When deputies arrived, they were met at the front door by Hernandez, who “had a firearm on his waistband and a Marine Corps Sabre on his hip,” the arrest warrant said.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has arrested 27-year-old Alexis Najera Hernandez after deputies say he confessed to shooting and killing two men inside a home in Albuquerque, N.M.Crime Stoppers of New Mexico

Hernandez, who was immediately detained, told deputies he was in the Marines and “had to do what he had to do,” the warrant states. He then allegedly stated there were two dead bodies inside the residence.

Once inside the house, the warrant states, deputies found one dead man “with possible gunshot wounds” in the front of the house and a second man with apparent stab wounds in an attached apartment.

The two children who were found inside were safely removed from the residence, the arrest warrant states.

In an interview with deputies after he was taken into custody, Hernandez said that he knew the two slain men, one of whom was the owner of the property, according to the warrant. He then allegedly said he had believed the property owner was a friend who had been stalking him during the days leading up to the incident.

The warrant states Hernandez alleged the friend had placed cameras in the lights. Hernandez also told deputies that he was allegedly “hearing creepy voices coming from the vents” and “had been getting signs” that he had to end the property owner before he ended him.

Hernandez later allegedly told deputies that he also had received “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill” the property owner, the warrant says. He added that the property owner allegedly did not like cockroaches.

The warrant states that Hernandez had previously purchased a Glock handgun, which he said he had for “protection.” Hernandez told deputies that on Friday the two men allegedly took him to the back room of the home and that he “was afraid for his life at this point.”

He said he shot the property owner in the head and the other in the kitchen, the warrant says. At one point, Hernandez allegedly told deputies, he had gone to his Honda Pilot to reload his gun before going back to each victim and shooting him again.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the details of the second man’s cause of death.

The warrant states Hernandez admitted that he did not know what to do after the attack, so he “stayed on scene and walked around.” He allegedly added that he knew about the two children at the house and that they saw him shoot the two men.

He added that “he was not going to take the kids or do anything to them,” the warrant says.

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