Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law three public safety bills yesterday.
She signed the legislation in her Statehouse cabinet room, packed yesterday morning with lawmakers, public safety officials, staff, community members, and media.
After Lujan Grisham’s public safety special session last July ended after only five hours during which her proposals had support from Republican lawmakers but few Democrats, yesterday’s ceremony represented a high-water mark for bipartisan cooperation.
Speaker of the House Javier Martinez explains how he and his colleagues made the trek from last summer’s troubles to the more recent bicameral successes.
“ We listened to victims' voices, we listened to providers, we listened to community groups, and we listened to the experts to come up with the best path forward and the best path possible,” Martinez said.
“I'm grateful to the governor for putting this on the radar in such a high profile way because I think it really forced only bipartisanship, which is incredibly important.”
The omnibus House public safety package codifies a number of new strategies, including criminal competency reform; the outlawing of glock switches; and tougher penalties for shooting threats, fentanyl trafficking, and auto theft repeat offenders.
The Senate did its part as well, leading the way on two laws. SB-1 establishes a trust fund for behavioral health programs while SB-3 creates a state-wide approach to providing mental health treatment, with regionalized strategies based on local needs.
While yesterday’s signings were a notable achievement, just past the midway point of the 60-day legislative session, several lawmakers talked about the need to pass more public safety measures.
The governor argued for the importance of passing measures to slow firearms crimes but noted that across-the-aisle cooperation is less likely.
“ Let's do more gun violence protection and safety legislation. Also heavy lift, largely not bipartisan, which later in the session just it's hard,”Lujan Grisham said.
“I don't wanna leave anyone watching this with the notion that what I've said to the senator or the house is easy work, but you have demonstrated that you can tackle the most challenging issues and present a nearly united front to get them addressed.”
More than 200 bills under consideration by the state legislature deal in some way with public safety.
