Enraged governor blisters Legislature for five-hour special session

This was one of the most disappointing days of my career, and the public should be outraged.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

One can measure Thursday’s one-day special legislative session by the numbers.

Five: The number of hours it took the Legislature to gavel into session, pass a bill and adjourn.

One hundred and three million: The dollars the Legislature appropriated to take care of fire-scarred, flood-vulnerable areas around New Mexico, fund outpatient treatment and competency diversion pilot programs and to pay for Thursday’s one-day session.

95-7: The number of state lawmakers in the House (57-7) and Senate (38-0) who supported the $103 million piece of legislation versus those who opposed it.

One scorcher of a statement from Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

An hour and a half after state lawmakers adjourned Thursday without considering any of the public safety legislation she had spent months demanding they take up, Lujan Grisham blistered her fellow Democrats with a one-page denunciation.

The Democratically controlled Legislature “should be embarrassed at their inability to summon even an ounce of courage to adopt common-sense legislation to make New Mexicans safer,” her statement read. “This was one of the most disappointing days of my career, and the public should be outraged.”

In a switch, Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat who early in her tenure worked closely with the Legislature’s Democratic majorities, praised Republican lawmakers, a majority of whom, she said, “would have passed many or all of these bills.”

It was a gift to GOP lawmakers who are likely to frame their Democratic colleagues as soft on crime in the months leading up to November’s general election.

House Republican Rep. Rod Montoya of Farmington, in fact, appeared already to be trying out campaign-worthy lines Thursday afternoon. Any New Mexicans concerned about crime and public safety should consider voting Republican in the November election, he quipped to news reporters.

Democratic leaders of the House and Senate were more conciliatory than the chief executive in their remarks after Thursday’s session ended.

Asked if Thursday’s five-hour session had further eroded the Democratic legislative leaders’ relationship with the governor who is in office through 2026, Sen. President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, started with “That’s a big question …,” then recalibrated. “I’ll just say I’m a little worried about it. But you know we appreciate her bringing forward these ideas and her sense of urgency.”

Sen. Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, chose a diplomatic tone.

“There is no question we were in a spot here,” he said. “We certainly look forward to working with Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. We have done some terrific work together. And I hope we can continue to do that work.”

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, was measured, too.

“Nothing is personal in politics,” Martínez said, adding that the Legislature had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ensuring public safety in previous years. “I mean, this is how it works. We are equal branches of the government.”

Martínez, Stewart, Wirth and other Democratic state lawmakers had repeatedly said in the runup to Thursday that they believed a special session was not the correct forum to pass Lujan Grisham’s priorities. It didn’t help matters that Lujan Grisham and legislative leaders hadn’t reached a deal. Special sessions, which are short and focused, usually work only when such agreements are in place beforehand.

The governor set out an ambitious agenda for state lawmakers going into Thursday: Change the state’s criminal competency laws, restrict panhandling to certain areas near roadways and increase penalties for violent felons in possession of a firearm. She also wanted lawmakers to increase the penalty for crimes involving the possession or trafficking of fentanyl.

The House and the Senate didn’t consider any of that, although Republican House Rep. John Block of Alamogordo did try to amend the $103 million bill with $10 million for security at the New Mexico border with Mexico. But it was shot down by the House Democratic majority.

It was unclear Thursday evening what Lujan Grisham plans to do: Sign the bill that passed or use her line-item veto authority to eliminate portions of it. Governors can employ their veto pen on sections of bills that appropriate money, which the $103 million legislation does. Wirth implored her not to do that.

“That would help rebuild the collaborative relationship that needs to happen between the three branches,” Wirth said.

Another option is for Lujan Grisham to call the Legislature back into session to take up the public safety measures.

The governor’s office would not say Thursday evening what she plans to do.

Here is a quick breakdown of what is in House Bill 1, which the Legislature passed Thursday.

— $10 million to the Mescalero Tribe to address damages caused by the South Fork and Salt fires.

— $10 million for wildfire mitigation; watershed restoration, slope stabilization, erosion control around the state.

— $10 million for individuals and businesses applying for or in the claims process to receive public assistance funding from the federal emergency management agency for damages caused by flooding or a fire.,

— $70 million to the State Board of Finance to provide zero-interest reimbursable loans to political subdivisions that have been approved for federal assistance to replace or repair public infrastructure damaged by the Salt and South Fork fires, including damages from flooding.

— $3 million to the Administrative Office of the Courts to fund assisted outpatient treatment programs and competency diversion pilot programs

— $211,900 to pay for the special session.