Senate approves changes to NM's red flag gun law, sending bill to governor's desk - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
A bill expanding New Mexico’s red flag gun law is headed to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk after being approved Monday by the state Senate.
Senators voted 23-15 along party lines to approve the bill, which is expected to be signed into law by the governor.
The legislation, House Bill 12, would mark the first major change to the 2020 law that allows firearms to temporarily be taken away from those deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Specifically, the bill would allow law enforcement officers to directly initiate a court petition — instead of waiting for someone else to contact them.
Under the current law, spouses, parents, children and employers are among the parties who are able to ask law enforcement agencies to file a court petition.
The legislation would also require that firearms be relinquished immediately upon a judge’s order, instead of within 48 hours.
Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, said the changes would make the law more effective and could prevent future murders and suicides.
“When people are in crisis and not making good decisions ... access to firearms can be very dangerous,” Duhigg said during Monday’s debate.
But Republican senators raised concerns the law could be misused by law enforcement officers, and that seized firearms could end up being lost or damaged.
“I don’t like this bill,” said Sen. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell. “I think it lacks clarity.”
The red flag gun law, officially known as the Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act, was approved by lawmakers in 2020 after several years of heated debate at the Roundhouse that pitted most of New Mexico’s county sheriffs and GOP lawmakers against gun safety advocates and most Democrats.
The law was used sparingly in the two years following its enactment. But utilization of the law increased over the last two years as law enforcement officers have received more training on its workings.
Statewide, the number of temporary firearm seizure petitions filed by law enforcement agencies has jumped from three petitions in 2021 to 96 petitions last year. Of those 96 petitions, more than half were filed in Bernalillo County.
During the first two months of this year, 17 such petitions have already been granted while one has been denied, according to state judicial branch data.
New Mexico is currently one of 21 states with a red flag gun law on its books. Under the law, extreme risk protection orders can lead to firearms being seized for up to one year.
If signed by Lujan Grisham, the bill making changes to the state law would take effect June 20.
U.S. Sens. Luján, Heinrich and others push back at USDA funding cuts - By Source New Mexico
New Mexico Democratic U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich, along with 30 of their colleagues on Tuesday wrote to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in response to the department’s cancellation of $1 billion in funding for programs connecting farmers with food banks and schools.
As Source NM reported on Monday, New Mexico had been slated to receive $2.8 million through the The Regional Farm to Food Bank program for the next three-year cycle. The state learned earlier this month the program, which officials said has spent more than $3.6 million with local producers since it began in 2021, will end at the end of this funding cycle in June.
In the letter, Luján, who serves on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, and others request the department reverse the decision to end the the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which funded the RF2FB, as well as the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, which funds states to purchase local food products for schools and child care institutions. Regarding the latter, The Food Depot Executive Director Jill Dixon told Source New Mexico did not have that program set up yet, so the cancelation is ” a loss of opportunity rather than the loss of an existing program.” Nonetheless, she noted, “both are very significant.”
In their letter, the senators request Rollins provide information about the status of reimbursements through both programs, as well as any assessment of the impacts the cancellations will have. They also urge her to reverse the decision, writing: “We have grave concerns that the cancellation…poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.”
Read the full letter here.
Luján on Monday held a roundtable at the Roadrunner Food Bank. He talked about the funding cancelations to Source in advance of that event, noting that “the Regional Farm to Food Bank program was an essential program that was agreed to in a bipartisan way over the last few years, understanding the need across America when it came to access to food and the problem with hunger. When these programs are severed or eliminated, it just makes it harder for everyone.”
In a news release following the round table, Luján said: “The Musk-Trump funding freeze and broad and indiscriminate firings across the federal government have devastated communities across America, leaving countless families uncertain where their next meal would come from. Food banks across New Mexico ensure families in need have access to nutritious meals. But now, Elon Musk, President Trump, and Congressional Republicans are threatening critical funding for nutrition support – putting New Mexico families at risk.”
Albuquerque City Council passes law targeting city’s ‘bad actor’ landlords - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
There’s new hope for scores of renters in Albuquerque who face issues such as a lack of running water, a lack of hot water, substandard heating and cooling, front doors that don’t lock, appliances that don’t work, pest infestation and unsafe stairwells.
The Albuquerque City Council unanimously passed legislation Monday night that directs the city’s Planning Department to hire a full-time code enforcement officer dedicated exclusively to prioritize such complaints. City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn authored the legislation and said that while most landlords respond to tenant concerns sufficiently, there were enough “bad actors” to warrant a new position and enhanced enforcement.
“This is my attempt to make sure that the city is providing assistance to renters who are trying to find their way through the process to get whatever problem they’re experiencing fixed,” she said.
Fiebelkorn said many renters with urgent issues don’t have the time or resources to take their complaints through the court process.
“Right now they’re on their own in a lot of cases,” she said. “They want to take it through the court system, but they have no idea how to do so and quite frankly don’t have the money to start that.”
Councilor Dan Champine, himself a landlord, agreed that it was the city’s few, but significant, “bad apples” that sully the name of responsible property owners.
“This hits really close to home for me,” he said. “We need to get this done, because that small percentage that’s tarnishing the name of good owners who provide a wonderful home for people to live in is something that needs to be fixed.”
The legislation, which passed on a 9-0 vote, has the support of the city’s Planning Department, which hires and oversees the work of code enforcement officers. The city said it received about 5,000 calls through its 311 system related to housing issues in the past three months . The city’s current budget allows for 50 code enforcement officers; there are currently three vacancies.
“Let’s start with one person who is dedicated to answering calls from tenants with life-safety issues in their homes who can really help them through the process,” Fiebelkorn said. “They can get out there as soon as possible to issue the original citation; they can explain the rights to the tenants — that person is going to be the one that’s helping them.”
The measure is the latest renter protection effort to be driven by Fiebelkorn. Late last year, councilors approved her bill that ensures tenants have cooling systems installed in apartments and living units. Fiebelkorn is also a proponent of repealing the state’s prohibition on rent control. A bill to repeal the prohibition is currently stalled in the New Mexico Legislature with just a few days left before the end of the legislative session.
Teens charged with murder in fatal hit-and-run of bicyclist captured on video - Associated Press
A 13-year-old boy has been charged with murder in a fatal hit-and-run of a bicyclist in Albuquerque that was captured on video from inside the boy's stolen car, law enforcement said Monday.
The teenager, who is believed to be the driver, and a 15-year-old have been charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person, the Albuquerque Police Department said in a statement.
An 11-year-old, who police say was also involved, is too young to be charged with murder.
"APD detectives are working with the DA's Office and CYFD to determine what charges he may face and whether he can be held on those charges," according to the statement.
The 13-year-old is expected to be booked into the Juvenile Detention Center. Detectives are searching for the 15 and 11-year-olds.
Scott Dwight Habermehl, 63, was riding to his job at Sandia National Laboratory early in the morning in May when he was hit by a car after it swerved into the bike lane, according to police.
The crash was filmed from inside the car and circulated on social media. In the recording, a voice believed to be the 13-year-old can be heard saying he is about to hit the bicyclist, according to law enforcement. The car appears to accelerate and a voice believed to be the 15-year-old says, "Just bump him, brah."
The driver asks, "Like bump him?"
A passenger says, "Yeah, just bump him. Go like…15…20."
Loud sounds can then be heard in the recording, including "metal flexing," according to law enforcement.
The video was posted on social media and reported to police. A middle school principal also reported the video to police after a student flagged it.
The Associated Press doesn't typically name people under 18 accused of a crime.
Campaign finance reform is “dead” says sponsor - Marjorie Childress, New Mexico In Depth
A bill meant primarily to close loopholes in New Mexico’s law governing the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures crashed and burned in the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs committee on Friday.
“The bill is dead,” Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said late Friday afternoon. Wirth has sought to close loopholes in New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act since several groups exploited them in a partially successful attempt to evade disclosing their donors and spending in the 2020 election.
Senate Bill 85 sailed through the Senate, then lingered for a month before House committees started just this past week hearing bills passed by the Senate. It faced two committee hearings, a House floor vote, and possibly another Senate vote to concur with any changes the House made, to land on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.
In other words, time was of the essence with just a week left in the session.
Wirth appeared to understand that when he made a point of saying during the committee hearing Friday morning that none of a phalanx of progressive non-profits who showed up to oppose the bill had let him know of their concerns or shared a letter sent to committee members about their position prior to Friday’s meeting.
“First time I’ve heard any of this testimony, never copied on the letter,” Wirth said. “…the best way we work legislation is [to] not wait till the last week and then show up and not even have the courtesy of copying the sponsor with a letter that was sent. So I just want to publicly make that statement.”
According to testimony from several representatives of the nonprofits, they objected to the proposed striking of four words—”for a political purpose”—that are found in the definition of “expenditure” in the current law.
“With the removal of the term ‘political purpose’ from the expenditure definition, it now includes anything that refers to a ballot question or candidate with no time frame limitation,” Lan Sena, policy director for New Mexico based Center for Civic Policy, said during the hearing.
Sena said the group feared the change would categorize public education that 501c3 nonprofit organizations do about legislative sessions as “independent expenditure” political activity under the Campaign Reporting Act, which would then force disclosure of the group’s donors to the Secretary of State.
Others spoke against the change too.
“Removal of the term political purpose from the expenditure definition will cause harm to 501 c3 funding,” said New Mexico Native Vote Executive Director Ahzta Chavez. “The primary purpose of many of the c3s are to educate the public on what’s happening during legislative sessions, and this would pull this type of education into a regulated political expenditure.”
Chavez directed committee members to a letter they would have received, signed by a group of nonprofits, who she listed.
“Folks in opposition are ACLU, Café ACCION, Center for Civic Policy, El Centro, Equality NM, NM Native Vote, NM Working Families, Olé, Organized Power in Numbers, Progress Now New Mexico, Semilla Action and Sierra Club, Rio Grande chapter,” Chavez said.
The group is a mix of 501c3 and 501c4 nonprofit organizations who variously run nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaigns, and in the case of 501c4 groups, endorse Democratic candidates.
New Mexico In Depth requested a copy of the letter from a few of the groups. Center for Civic Policy communications director Jessie Sanchez replied that the group preferred to not share it publicly. Sanchez said the bill was complex and required a lengthy legal analysis, which took time, compounded by the bill not at first being on the group’s radar.
But not clear is why Wirth was blindsided by the organized effort to oppose his bill. “These are groups I champion,” Wirth said late Friday afternoon.
In a text message, Sanchez listed a number of implications from proposed modifications to the statute but it’s unclear if those concerns stem entirely from the removal of “for a political purpose.” Sanchez said policy staff were unavailable for an interview on Friday.
The group’s interpretation was incorrect, Wirth said during the committee hearing Friday morning. The change simply codified what was already in the state regulations that govern how the statute is applied, he said, before handing off to Lindsay Bachman, of the Secretary of State’s office, to explain in detail.
Bachman pointed to time frames in regulatory language that only require reporting about independent expenditures when the advertisements “refer to a clearly identified candidate or ballot question and are disseminated to the relevant electorate within 30 days before the primary election or 60 days before the general election at which the candidate or ballot question is on the ballot.”
The bill did not receive an entire hearing, or a vote on Friday. Committee Chair D. Wonda Johnson, D-McKinley and San Juan, told Wirth she would schedule it to be heard again on Saturday morning. But it appears Wirth, who as majority leader of the Senate juggles an outsized set of responsibilities during the final days of the session, has decided not to pursue it. He told New Mexico In Depth he would make another effort in future years.
Trip Jennings contributed to this report.
Court puts a temporary hold on releasing records related to the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife - Associated Press
A New Mexico court granted a temporary restraining order Monday against the release of certain records related to the investigation into the recent deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
The order is in response to a request by Julia Peters, a representative for the couple's estate. She urged in a motion filed last week that the court seal records in the case to protect the family's right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Peters emphasized the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and potential for their dissemination by media.
A hearing has been scheduled for later this month to argue the merits of the request. For now, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and the state Office of the Medical Investigator cannot release photographs and videos showing the couple's bodies or the interior of their home, autopsy reports or death investigation reports.
Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe home in late February. Authorities have confirmed that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer's disease about a week after hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare, rodent-borne disease — took the life of his wife.
The request to seal the records notes that the couple placed "a significant value on their privacy and took affirmative vigilant steps" to safeguard their privacy over their lifetime, including after they moved to Santa Fe and Hackman retired. The state capital is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.
"The personal representative seeks to continue to preserve the privacy of the Hackmans following their tragic death and support the family's constitutional right to remembrance and desire to grieve in peace," the document states.
New Mexico's open records law blocks public access to sensitive images, including depictions of people who are deceased. Experts also say that some medical information is not considered public record under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.
Still, the bulk of death investigations by law enforcement and autopsy reports by medical investigators are typically considered public records under state law in the spirit of ensuring government transparency and accountability.
Privacy likely will play a role as well as the couple's estate gets settled. According to probate court documents filed earlier this month, Hackman signed an updated will in 2005 leaving his estate to his wife while the will she signed that same year directed her estate to him in the event of her death. With both of them dying, management of the estate is in the hands of Peters, a Santa Fe-based attorney and trust manager.
A request is pending to appoint a trustee who can administer assets in two trusts associated with the estate. Without trust documents being made public, it's unclear who the beneficiaries are and how the assets will be divided.
Attorneys who specialize in estate planning in New Mexico say it's possible more details could come out if there were any legal disputes over the assets. Even then, they said, the parties likely would ask the court to seal the documents to maintain privacy.
Despite changes, paid worker leave bill voted down again - By Megan Gleason, Albuquerque Journal
A renewed attempt to enact a state-run paid worker leave plan bit the dust Saturday in a Senate committee, as changes made to the bill in an attempt to get it across the Roundhouse finish line instead led to the measure’s defeat.
After a barrage of concerns from Democrats and Republicans, from a lack of funding to hurting businesses to the bill not going far enough, the Senate Finance Committee on Saturday voted 8-3 not to pass House Bill 11.
“We’ll just keep soldiering on until we get the bill through,” bill sponsor Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, told the Journal after the committee vote. “I was hoping and expecting it was going to be this year, and that expectation was based on all the compromises we had made and all the listening we had done.”
Indeed, the measure was once a very different bill. First introduced in 2019 as the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, the many iterations have explored different funding mechanisms, including scenarios where only employees pay into a leave fund to the state fully covering it.
The approach to this year’s bill, which sponsors ironed out last month to help it pass through a key House committee, came in two parts: $9,000 baby rebates for new, working parents and up to six weeks paid medical leave, covered by new premiums on workers and most employers.
The legislation as introduced initially this year would’ve mandated higher premiums from employers and employees to pay for parental and medical leave and allowed for more medical time off.
Bill sponsors made the changes to appease some more moderate Democrats and business leaders, and HB11 successfully passed the House for the first time — something bill sponsor Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, has been urging the House to do. The Senate in the last two years has passed the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act.
Stewart said on Saturday afternoon that HB11 wasn’t the right solution, with its reduced medical leave timeframe and baby rebates.
“The changes made this year resulted in a bill that no longer upholds many of the provisions we strongly supported in the original version. ... It just doesn’t quite work for what families really need or when they need it,” Stewart said in a statement.
She added, “We’re not done yet. We will continue working to find a solution that benefits both New Mexico families and the businesses that support our workforce.”
Bill sponsor Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said the House sponsors did what they needed with the bill to get it through the chamber it’s historically held up in. It passed with seven extra votes.
“As legislators, we all realize perfection is the enemy of the good, and I think we have to do what we can to meet in the middle,” Serrato told the Journal.
Chandler said it’s perplexing the Senate Finance Committee in the last two years has passed a more expansive Paid Family and Medical Leave Act but wouldn’t let the slimmed-down version through this year. Three Democrats who voted for the bill in past years voted against it Saturday: Sens. Pete Campos of Las Vegas, Benny Shendo of Jemez Pueblo and Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales of Ranchos de Taos.
Even the Democrats who voted in favor of the bill started the debate with a list of concerns and questions about it. Sen. Linda Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, said it doesn’t go far enough, while Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, reiterated concerns he voiced earlier in the week about where money for the baby rebates would come from.
The “no” vote from Senate Finance Chair George Muñoz, D-Gallup, wasn’t a surprise, as he’s consistently voted against the bill in the past. This year, he called it one of many unfunded mandates the House of Representatives wants the Senate to pass.
On Saturday, he said the bill is too extreme.
“We can never take a baby step,” Muñoz said. “If you have just mothers with 12 weeks (leave) and families taking care of parents for medical assistance, I’d vote for this all day long.”
At the end of the day, not all once-supportive advocates backed the bill either.
“We really do think that New Mexicans deserve full, comprehensive paid family and medical leave,” said Tracy McDaniel, policy director at the Southwest Women’s Law Center. She’s been very involved in the bill’s legislative progress in the past and acted as a bill expert earlier this year.
However, she said bill sponsors didn’t invite advocates to the table when overhauling the bill last month, and she was disappointed to see paid medical leave timeframes dialed down as well as being unsure of the proposed state-funded baby rebates.
“We’re going to have to be working with sponsors in the interim around how we create something that really works well for New Mexicans,” McDaniel said. “The (paid family and medical leave) coalition continues to think that a contribution-based model works well. … That’s really the way that we create a solvent, sustainable fund.”
Republicans have for years vehemently opposed the measure, which they say would make it harder for New Mexico businesses to operate by not only having to find replacement employees for up to 12 weeks but also having to pay new premiums.
The sentiments echo those of influential business leaders in New Mexico, as well as small-town employers.
Rita Chaparro owns Rope’s Western and Casual Wear in Clayton, a town of about 2,500 people in northeastern New Mexico. She learned about the paid leave proposal from the Journal.
“It will literally kill our small businesses,” Chaparro said. “We cannot add another tax.”
Her own store wouldn’t be affected, as it only has two employees — the legislation would only tax employers with five or more workers. But Chaparro said she’s concerned about the other shops and restaurants in the town that are struggling to stay open.
“We’re really having a hard time. So no more adding anything to our plate, please,” she said.
Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee on Saturday also had issues with the lack of details in the 36-page bill.
“It just sounds like an absolute employment nightmare,” said Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, R-Albuquerque. “And I can see the lawsuits.”
While it may be the end of the line this year for a Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, bill sponsors and advocates say they’ll be back.
“If you’re asking if the House will stop fighting for working families? Never,” Serrato said.
NM unemployment rate ticks up to 4.4% in January - By New Mexico Political Report
New Mexico’s unemployment rate continued to move higher, with the latest numbers showing a rate of 4.4 percent in January.
The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions released the January unemployment numbers Monday.
The department said the rate was up from 4.3% in December and up from 3.8% in the previous January.
New Mexico’s unemployment was higher than the national rate of 4% nationwide.
These numbers don’t reflect the bulk of widespread federal layoffs by the Trump administration. New Mexico has a large federal workforce, with 29,400 federal jobs according to NM DWS, 200 fewer than December of 2024 and 500 fewer than January of 2024.
The seasonally adjusted numbers came as total nonagricultural payroll grew by 15,300 jobs, with the private sector providing 12,600 jobs.
The sectors with the most job increases were private education and health services, which gained 4,100 jobs.
State government grew by 1,900 jobs, or 3.4 percent. This included an increase of 500 public education jobs.