New Mexico
The 72 bills that reached the governor’s desk and those that didn’t – Source New Mexico
New Mexico lawmakers introduced a total of 658 bills this session, nearly 10 times more than they ended up actually voting to pass onto the governor.
By the time the Legislature finished the budget-focused 30-day session on Thursday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had signed three bills: House Bill 1, House Bill 141 and House Bill 171.
House Speaker Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) said in the 20 years he has been advocating at the Legislature and then serving in it, he has never been more proud of a state budget than the one sitting on the governor’s desk.
“It is a budget that has put the people of New Mexico first,” Martinez said. “It is a budget that values the people of New Mexico, that truly incorporates the needs of rural New Mexico and balances those with the needs of urban New Mexico.”
In and outside the state budget, those included bills on community safety, education, health care, affordable housing, workforce, the economy and climate change, said outgoing House Majority Leader Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque).
“These investments prioritize our state’s most pressing, immediate needs while also investing in the future, laying foundations that will have lasting, positive impacts for decades to come,” Chasey said.
Out of 658 bills introduced, 72 of them were passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, shown below.
Lujan Grisham still has until March 6 to sign or veto bills. After that, any legislation she leaves untouched will be “pocket vetoed,” and would not become law.
Unfinished business
Martinez said “unfinished business” this session included the tribal education trust fund which died on the Senate floor, a proposal that would have brought more accountability and transparency to government that died in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a statewide paid family and medical leave initiative that failed in the House.
“These are bills that are going to come back, because this caucus believes in government transparency and accountability,” Martinez said. “We’re going to keep fighting. That bill is going to happen, because it is something that the people expect us to do.”
Martinez said paid family and medical leave is a big and large proposal that “deserves to be vetted and debated.”
“I’m proud of the fact that this floor gave it a robust hearing for three hours yesterday,” Martinez said. “(The Paid Family and Medical Leave Act) is not going away. The people need it, the people deserve it. We’re going to come back next year, we’re going to make the tweaks that we need to make, and we’re going to move forward.”
Asked whether there are any public safety proposals he expects to return next year, Martinez said it’s “too early to tell.”
“Public safety is a big subject and as a Legislature, we must address issues as they come up, understanding they didn’t come up overnight,” he said. “For now, I think what we passed is targeted. It will be impactful. As the months go by and all of us go meet with our local law enforcement, local (District Attorneys), local (Public Defenders), with people on the ground, to see what is working and what needs to be tweaked.”
Minutes later on Thursday upstairs in the governor’s cabinet room, Lujan Grisham told reporters she’s seriously considering calling for a special session focused on public safety and crime.
“It’s not off the table that we have a public safety special session,” Lujan Grisham said. “Special sessions don’t always give you the results that you intend.”
There have been some “historically bad” regular sessions and special sessions, she said.
“My job is to make sure that we’re focused and deliberate,” she said. “I don’t think it’s safe out there, and I don’t think that (New Mexicans) think it’s safe out there, because it plays out horrifically every single day.”
In total, 17 bills got the endorsement of one chamber but didn’t reach a vote in the other, and so cannot become law.
No signature needed
Lawmakers passed another 37 pieces of legislation which were either memorials or resolutions, which do not have the force of law and do not need the governor’s signature.
Resolutions are formal declarations and can be used to place constitutional amendments on the ballot. Memorials are often used to express formal legislative intent. Lawmakers introduced 119 of them.
New Orleans Privateers (0-2) at New Mexico Lobos (2-1)
Albuquerque, New Mexico; Wednesday, 1 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: New Mexico takes on New Orleans after Destinee Hooks scored 20 points in New Mexico’s 71-64 victory over the North Carolina A&T Aggies.
New Mexico went 12-8 at home a season ago while going 18-14 overall. The Lobos averaged 70.4 points per game last season, 33.9 in the paint, 14.1 off of turnovers and 10.3 on fast breaks.
New Orleans went 5-24 overall with a 3-15 record on the road a season ago. The Privateers shot 35.1% from the field and 26.8% from 3-point range last season.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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.
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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