State lawmakers prepare for upcoming special session

SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico state lawmakers are heading back to the Roundhouse this week for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public safety special session.

It’s been in the works for months now and with just three days left to prepare it seems legislative leaders aren’t feeling very confident about the governor’s top goals.

“The unintended consequences of passing something that is not ready are far too great,” said Speaker of the House Javier Martinez. 

“Unfortunately, it feels a little bit like the governor’s throwing spaghetti up against the wall to see what sticks,” said House Minority Leader Rod Montoya.   

Martinez and Montoya appear to be on the same page when it comes to Lujan Grisham’s special session agenda.

“We just don’t think that a special legislative session is the place to do it, given how complex these bills are,” said Martinez. “These are very, very complicated areas of law. As one of my colleagues said, this is actually kind of rocket science.”

He’s talking about the governor’s plan to rework New Mexico’s criminal and civil competency laws. They’re proposals that consumed nearly half a dozen legislative meetings ahead of the special session, and are still far from the finish line.

“The committees that have seen these bills have seen variation after variation after variation of bill that, frankly, the legislators, are unwilling to bite on any one of them,” said Montoya. 

But that’s not because lawmakers don’t support the big picture idea.

“Do I think that these things need to be addressed? Absolutely. Will they have an impact? Yeah, they will,” said House Minority Whip Alan Martinez. 

And not for lack of trying either.

“We’ve been working diligently, very hard over the past several weeks, six dedicated interim committee meetings to these issues, countless staff hours, countless legislative hours working on these different concepts,” said Martinez. “We just don’t think that we’re in a place where there’s agreement.” 

But it seems both sides do believe the special session may be much shorter than anticipated.

“We’re not even sure necessarily if there will be a session, or if there is a session. We don’t know if we’re gonna walk in and gavel down because there’s no consensus and walk out the door,” said Montoya. 

“Whether or not we have a special session, whether or not it lasts 15 minutes or lasts a today, this work is going to continue, right? A special legislative session is not the end all be all for these issues,” said Martinez. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say one of the other big concerns here is the price of a special session. It costs taxpayers roughly $50,000 a day to bring lawmakers back. Without some type of consensus ahead of time, it seems that money could go to waste.

So what are the big hangups on the competency bills? It seems lawmakers want more time to address constitutional concerns.

These bills would essentially force some New Mexicans into behavioral treatments against their will, and there are a lot of potential issues there.

Some lawmakers also raised concerns about the simple lack of behavioral health resources across New Mexico, and suggest these bills might be putting the cart before the horse.