The Second Session of the 57th Legislature of the State of New Mexico is officially closed. Speaker of the House Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) said this was the most consequential session of his ten years in the Roundhouse. At a press conference immediately following the close of session, Martinez said that representation matters in legislative bodies.
"This is what happens when women, immigrants and people of color lead," Martinez said. "This is what happens when working working people can sit in these chairs and make decisions for the people here in the state of New Mexico."
Martinez praised several notable bills that are headed to the governor's desk, but the bill that drew the biggest response on the House floor was House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act.
“House Bill 9 is not just the right thing to do, it's actually going to make our community safer," Martinez said. "It reassures our immigrant brothers and sisters and family members that they don't need to be afraid to seek support from local law enforcement when they need it.”
But moments later, at a separate press conference, Minority Floor Leader Rep. Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena) said that bill will kill 1,000 jobs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in three New Mexico counties. The House passed Senate Bill 273 which will allocate $15 million to the counties affected by the potential closure of the detention facilities. But Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) called the Immigrant Safety Act the worst bill that passed this session.
“My county, specifically, we're going to lose $6 million in gross receipts taxes, every year we also have $16.5 million that we need still in our bonding capacity for that facility."
Democratic Majority Floor Leader Reena Szczepanski touted the numerous healthcare bills the legislature passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. While the Senate passed two medical and behavioral health compacts, Szczepanski made sure to point out that the House passed all ten that were introduced.
The 2026 New Mexico legislative session has officially wrapped up. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham concluded the session with a press conference yesterday.
The governor touted multiple achievements this session, including economic incentives for doctors to complete their residencies and continue practicing in New Mexico. Those include a ten thousand dollar tax credit for doctors, a health care loan professional repayment program, and funding for a new medical school. Lujan Grisham said that she and legislators made a point of listening to medical providers throughout the process.
She was also proud of new early childhood education policy, which includes universal childcare and a new Office of Special Education.
Though this will be Lujan Grisham's last legislative session as governor, she discussed policy areas that she'd like the legislature to keep working on. One of her priorities was violent crime, especially in the wake of a proposed assault weapons ban that was ultimately killed in the legislature.
"When you have someone who's buying fifty guns every week, and when most of the arrests show us that that purchase was legal for that firearm, we have a problem in this state," Lujan Grisham said.
Another bill that failed to pass was the Clear Horizons Act, which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Grisham added that in the future, she'd like to see more progress on environmental legislation.
"I wanted the microgrid system, I want net zero in statute," Lujan Grisham said. "There's a lot of daylight in marrying some of those; there's gonna have to be a lot more work."
Towards the end of the press conference, Lujan Grisham briefly acknowledged the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch, which is located about forty miles south of Santa Fe. She stressed that those guilty of wrongdoing will be held accountable.
Throughout her remarks, Lujan Grisham emphasized the value of bipartisanship in policymaking. However, Representative Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena) was heard saying that one crime bill was killed in committee solely on the basis of it being a "Republican bill." KSFR could not independently verify that statement or what bill the representative was referring to.
