GOP leaders bemoan 'unproductive and disappointing' 60-day session

Yahoo

23-03-2025

Republican lawmakers Saturday bemoaned what they characterized as a complete failure by Democrats to address New Mexico's crime and health care crises during the 60-day legislative session, which ended with the shocking news of a mass shooting in Las Cruces the night before.
Calling the session 'unproductive and disappointing,' Republican leaders from both chambers sent a letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham before the Legislature even gaveled out at noon requesting she call an immediate special session 'to solve our violent crime problem and the inability of New Mexicans to receive health care due to the lack of medical professionals.'
'We sounded the alarm 12 days ago, all about the critical legislation to address crime and health care and that it was going nowhere,' House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena said while flanked by fellow Republicans during a news conference a half-hour after the session ended.
'Unfortunately, nothing changed,' she said.
Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer of Farmington asserted Republicans in both chambers had introduced 'comprehensive legislation' to alleviate the state's crime problems and health care deficiencies.
'Not a single substantive proposal got a fair hearing or a true consideration from the Democrats — not one,' he said.
'Plain and simple, the legislative session failed to meaningfully address the out-of-control crime crisis after the failed public safety special session [last year] where the Democrats walked away from their responsibility to New Mexicans,' Sharer added.
He was referring to a special session Lujan Grisham called in July to pass crime legislation that ended after a day with none of her crime bills even receiving a hearing.
'They came to the table with zero intentions of getting tough on crime,' Sharer said. 'In fact, we believe they did just the opposite.'
Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, said Republicans faced a similar challenge in trying to resolve the state's shortage of health care providers, particularly in rural areas.
'Democrat lawmakers have made it impossible to practice medicine in New Mexico, forcing many, many doctors to flee the state and drive away our own medical school graduates,' he said. 'We had several comprehensive bills, which had support [and] input from medical professionals that Democrats refused to consider or simply killed. They seem to side with the trial lawyers over New Mexico health care providers.'
Woods said he signed on as a co-sponsor of a medical malpractice bill sponsored by Martin Hickey, an Albuquerque Democrat who is a licensed doctor.
'His party killed that proposal, too,' Woods said. 'We cannot go on like this. Inaction is not an option.'
Armstrong said New Mexico's health care system is on 'life-support' and said Republicans had introduced a bill that was 'the closest thing to the silver bullet.'
'The fact that not a single medical malpractice reform was even close to successful just shows the power of the trial attorneys and the hold that they have in the Legislature,' she said.
Sharer said Democrats pushed House Bill 8, which he called a 'weak at best' crime package in the first half of the session, with the stated intention of considering other public safety bills.
Although the Democratic-majority Legislature did, in fact, take up other public safety bills, Republicans said they didn't go far enough.
'They never wanted to do more,' Sharer said. 'They merely wanted to deceive New Mexicans that they took action to address public safety without actually holding repeat criminals and violent criminals accountable.'
Armstrong agreed, repeating a phrase coined by Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, after Senate Judiciary Committee chair Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said lawmakers were 'just getting warmed up' with bills related to crime and public safety.
'We were told the crime package, House Bill 8, was an appetizer,' Armstrong said. 'That's all we got.'
Of particular interest to Republicans was a bill designed to clamp down on juvenile offenders, which was supported by Democratic Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman and the governor. Democrats killed the bill, which would have implemented harsher penalties for youthful offenders, while expanding the state's so-called red-flag gun law allowing for the confiscation of guns from someone deemed an imminent threat to themselves or others.
'Our commonsense, tough-on-crime proposals were either denied consideration or killed by Democrats while the Democrats attacked law-abiding citizens and Second Amendment rights,' Sharer said. 'Democrats continue to prove to New Mexicans that improving public safety is just not a priority to them.'