Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is tasking lawmakers to come up with public safety solutions amid a persistently high violent crime rate that is twice the national average and has left many communities on edge.
She delivered her State of the State address Tuesday, kicking off a 60-day legislative session in which curbing crime and boosting child wellbeing will be top priorities. It's likely the last chance for her to tackle big legislative initiatives before she terms out of office in 2026.
In a speech that touched on everything from making child care affordable to addressing climate change, the governor kept going back to public safety. She noted that one third of New Mexicans say either they or a loved one has been the victim of a serious crime.
"Everyone in this room knows that crime is out of control in New Mexico," Lujan Grisham said. "Even our public safety professionals agree -- we're in a state of crisis. Too many of us simply don't feel safe in our communities, and that is, frankly, unacceptable."
In outlining her proposals, the governor asked lawmakers to clear the way for bankrolling the efforts. As the nation's No. 2 oil-producing state, New Mexico is flush with cash from petroleum production that will help to foot some of the bill.
The governor held town halls in Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Gallup, Raton and other cities over the past several months. The message was clear: People don't feel safe.
Lujan Grisham pointed to data shared by the nonpartisan nonprofit Council of State Governments Justice Center that shows New Mexico's violent crime rate in 2023 was 21% higher than a decade earlier and twice the national average.
The governor has cited an intersection between poverty, homelessness, mental health, addiction and crime, saying the state needs to invest more in programs to help people become stable, productive members of society.
Leading Democratic legislators also are proposing the creation of a $1 billion trust to underwrite future spending on addiction and mental health treatment to rein in crime and homelessness. Companion legislation might compel some people to receive treatment.
Lujan Grisham also voiced her support for holding people who are deemed dangerous in custody pending trial and toughening laws to ensure repeat offenders are held accountable. She said it's a small group of repeat offenders who wreak a large percentage of havoc.
"We cannot, we must not let this continue," she said. "We need the tools to overcome this challenge."
Touting previous work to expand access to preschool programs and to cover tuition for in-state college students, Lujan Grisham said lawmakers need to go further by funding universal child care and funneling $50 million toward the creation of an education fund that would specifically benefit Native American students.
As part of making the most of classroom time, the governor also proposed incentives for schools that ban cellphone use during school hours, an idea that's gaining bipartisan ground elsewhere.
The governor also called for twice-yearly independent reviews of the state Children, Youth & Families Department, a beleaguered agency that has been blamed for failing vulnerable children.
"The status quo, in which any family in crisis is cut off from the help they need -- or quite frankly where the state lacks the authority to save a child's life -- is simply unacceptable," she said.
One bill already endorsed by the Legislature's key budget committee would overhaul how the child welfare agency is governed. The governor also wants to create an independent office that would ensure complaints about the department are adequately resolved.
To provide more support for New Mexico's foster families, the governor said exempting them from personal income tax and doubling their monthly stipend could help.
Lujan Grisham pointed to the wildfires ravaging California and those that destroyed communities in New Mexico in recent years, saying the state must confront the threat of climate change.
She's proposing a state-sponsored fire insurance program, saying no New Mexican should be priced out of a fire insurance policy.
Lujan Grisham also proposed spending millions of dollars to address water scarcity in the arid state. Part of that includes underwriting ventures aimed at purifying and recycling enormous volumes of salty, polluted water from oil and natural gas production.
Her administration says the future of the state's economy is at stake in searching for water-treatment solutions, while environmentalists have been wary or critical.
The governor said during her address that she should have been more clear when she initially floated the idea, explaining it would not be used for human or animal consumption or to irrigate crops.
"We have massive amounts of industrial water that is being injected right back into the ground. Let's build the technology to clean up that industrial water rather than pollute our aquifers," she said. "This recycled resource can be used for clean energy projects, advanced manufacturing, data centers and even putting out wildfires in our urban areas."
