NM Legislation

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This page last updated March 22.

The 60-day regular Legislative Session for 2025 ended at noon March 22.

All that remains is to urge the Governor to sign the bills that we support.

To see the list of all bills that Reboot Our Democracy has been watching, see our legislative tracker.

To contact the Governor to urge her to sign a piece of legislation:

Phone number: (505)476-2200
Web site to send her an email directly: https://www.governor.state.nm.us/contact-the-governor/

Immigration

Two immigration bills passed both chambers and are now on the Governor's desk for her signature:

SB 36 Sensitive Personal Nondisclosure prohibits state employees from disclosing immigration status and other sensitive information. It also ensures MVD data isn't used for immigration enforcement.
HB 64 Tuition Benefits for Immigrant Workers passed the House March 8 by a 37-19 vote, and passed the Senate Education Committee March 12. This bill ensures that immigrant students get the same tuition rate or state-funded financial aid that is granted to residents of New Mexico.

Other key immigration measures failed:

SB 250 State Enforcement of Immigration Law would prevent any State and Local resources from being applied to Immigration Enforcement (e.g., to working for ICE). It would have created a critical firewall, but died on the Senate floor.
SB 177 U-visa Certification Act, sponsored by Sen. Antoinette Sedillo López, would create a uniform process for all law enforcement agencies in New Mexico to certify U-visa applications for undocumented immigrant crime victims. These are victims who are providing a service to law enforcement and need to remain present in the US. It’s a federal program administered ad hoc by local authorities, and that’s the problem. SB 177 died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
HB 9 Immigrant Safety Act would prohibits counties from entering into or renewing agreements to detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations. It passed the House on March 7 by a vote of 35-25, and the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on March 15, but it died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
SB 420 Community Privacy & Safety Act, sponsored by Senators Katy Duhigg and Angel Charley, would prevent companies doing business on the internet from collecting and selling New Mexicans’ personal information without consent. ICE often uses this information to locate members of our community. SB 420 passed the Senate Tax, Business & Transportation Committee but died in the Senate Judiciary Committee. .

Environment

Three significant environmental bills passed both houses and now are awaiting the Governor's signature:

SB 21, Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act, authorizes the state to take over pollutant discharge permitting for waters still federally protected and under EPA jurisdiction. This authority is necessary to pursue primacy for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permits so that New Mexico can pass more stringent water protections than federal law allows. Read more here. The bill, which was merged with SB 22, puts in place discharge permit standards for the 95% of New Mexico waterways that were excluded from Clean Water Act protections by the Sackett decision. The original version of SB 22 included language requiring the promulgation of rules for reuse of produced water outside the oilfield. We joined Defend NM Water to ask the sponsors and Conservation Committee members to amend the bill to allow for produced water research outside the oilfield only at an accredited laboratory, and prohibit all other reuse until scientific evidence demonstrates treatment safety.
SB 23, Oil and Gas Royalty Rate Changes, raises oil and gas royalty rates from 20% to the market rate of 25% for new leases. This is the third time the State Land Office has attempted to ensure that New Mexico receives the same compensation that Texas receives from oil operators, and to increase state funding from the oil and gas industry by $1 billion.
SB 37, Strategic Water Reserve Fund, enhances this 20-year-old fund in a number of ways. It expands the purpose of the fund to include recharging aquifers, and it creates a non-reverting fund so that appropriations are available when needed. (The similarly named HB 137, Strategic Water Supply Act, passed both chambers handily despite strenuous opposition from water experts who decry its lack of clarity about the toxic discharges of "produced" water as well as its use of public funds to benefit oil producers. For details about these issues, see https://www.newenergyeconomy.org/ .)

SB 4, Clear Horizons and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, failed to make it through the Senate Finance Committee. It would give NM emissions reduction goals the force of law, require the establishment of rules, and establish assessment and reporting requirements by the Environmental Improvement Board. Importantly, this bill did not endorse the dangerous and empty false solutions that prior legislation included like "carbon trading" or "carbon credits". Read more here.

Gun Safety & Criminal Justice

HB 12, Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Changes, has already been signed by the Governor. It expands law enforcement's ability to file petitions and strengthen firearm relinquishment requirements. The bill maintains the core purpose of the existing law, which is to prevent individuals who pose a significant danger to themselves or others from accessing firearms, but streamlines the process for obtaining and enforcing protective orders.
SB 279, Assault Weapon and Large Capacity Magazine Ban, died in the Senate Finance Committee.
SB 50, Independent Crime & Law Enforcement, was tabled in the Senate Judiciary Committee early in the legislative session. For a discussion of lessons learned around that bill, see Rachel Feldman's opinion piece here.
Rachel Feldman actively watched the multitude of House and Senate measures related to crime issues. For her March 4 opinion piece regarding crime and other legislation, see here. For her earlier opinion piece on crime issues, see here.

Healthcare

HB 11, The Child Welcome and Family Wellness Leave Act, passed the House and the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee. However, it became bottled up because of some questions about the funding structure and never made it out of the Senate Finance Committee.
Twelve bills to help address the lack of medical providers failed to pass. These bills were designed to be a stop gap that would allow medical providers from out of state to practice in New Mexico as members of a medical compact without further licensing requirements. Covering various disciplines, many of these compacts received overwhelming support on the House floor. However, only one--HB 243, Interstate Medical Licensure Compact--made it to the Senate floor, where it died. For a listing and snapshot of the status of all of these compact bills and related calls to action (as of March 4), see here.

Other Significant Legislation That Failed

HB 290 & HJR 11, the Vibrant Communities Act and its enabling legislation (modifying the Anti-Donation Clause), never made it out of the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee. Read details here.
Green Amendment: This measure passed the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee, but it saw no further action this legislative session. The Green Amendment is a nationwide effort to pass Green Amendments in all 50 states. For more info, go to https://nmgreenamendment.org/.

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