WHEW. The 2024 legislative session is in the books with historic wins, a few losses, and some fertile terrain for change. There were long days, late nights, moments of sheer panic, and (thankfully) a lot of bright spots that give me hope for the future of our wonderful state.
As anyone who has taken part in a 30-day session will tell you, a month’s time is a very short period to get bills across the finish line. Not only are the month-long sessions (which take place every other year) short, they are also focused narrowly on budgetary issues and those issues the governor chooses to put on her call. We work within those limits to advance bills that will make our state a more just, free, and safe place to live and raise families, and to fight back against bills that harm our communities.
We are deeply opposed to bills that we know will only tear families apart and further entrench our communities in cycles of addiction, poverty, and violence.
Heading into session, Gov. Lujan Grisham made it clear that her priorities would be focused on public safety, both by “giving a message” to bills that invest in preventative measures and by pushing for “tough on crime” bills. We are in full support of investing in solutions that prevent crime. But we are deeply opposed to bills that we know will only tear families apart and further entrench our communities in cycles of addiction, poverty, and violence.
Candidly, we are all a bit exhausted from fighting the same, failed punitive policies year after year that collectively amount to a massive waste of taxpayer dollars and are a dead end to public safety. But until lawmakers stop introducing these bills, we’ll be there to fight them.
So, we jumped in full steam ahead, kicking off the session with a joint press conference with partners working on the front lines of these issues. We called on lawmakers to continue their investments in tackling the root causes of crime and to resist passing punitive policies. We carried that momentum forward throughout the session, testifying in committee meetings, meeting with legislators, and speaking to reporters about the harmful effects of stiffer penalties. We also rallied inside the Roundhouse with community partners and the people who have felt the impact of these bills firsthand during End Mass Incarceration Day of Action and Youth Action Day.
I am encouraged by the number of people who showed up at the Roundhouse to make their voices heard — and by the legislators who listened. Lawmakers ultimately voted against two unconstitutional bills that would have made it easier for prosecutors to hold people accused of certain crimes in jail pre-trial, proposals that would have added new crimes to the criminal code, and legislation that would have further criminalized homeless people and those who choose to help them.
These are the kinds of investments that tackle the root causes of crime and will actually advance community safety.
At the same time that lawmakers rejected failed policy solutions, they also voted to pass a historic budget that prioritizes the single greatest one-time investment our state has ever made in housing, along with enormous investments in behavioral health, education, job creation, and skills development for our workforce. These are the kinds of investments that tackle the root causes of crime and will actually advance community safety.
We and our partners also advocated for a bill to ensure incarcerated people have access to free menstrual products – a critical necessity for people who are often forced to use inadequate substitutes that expose them to health risks, including infertility, due to shortages. Those efforts paid off when lawmakers appropriated $250,000 for the distribution of menstrual products to incarcerated people for fiscal year 2025. Next year, we’ll work to ensure lawmakers pass legislation enshrining policy protections in the law.
In addition to these wins, we also encountered some setbacks and disappointments. We pushed for bills that ultimately didn’t make it across the finish line, including legislation that would have ensured up to 12 weeks of paid leave for people in need of time off to care for their own health needs and the health of their families; limited law enforcement’s use of mass surveillance technology; and ended the complicity of New Mexico counties in the inhumane practice of detaining people who are seeking asylum.
Though these bills didn’t pass, we’re not giving up hope. We, along with our community allies and supporters like you, had fruitful conversations with lawmakers across the political spectrum on these bills and many others. We know from past experience that sometimes it takes multiple sessions to pass the bills we believe in. We are resilient – and you can rest assured that we’ll continue this hard work in the interim session and be back at the 60-day session in 2025 to continue advocating for a more just, fair, and equitable New Mexico.
