After Trump's calls, senator files bill shielding state elections from federal interference - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
In the wake of President Donald Trump's recent call to "nationalize" elections, New Mexico could move to set new guardrails against possible federal interference at polling places.
A bill filed by Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, would make it a state-level crime to deploy troops to a polling place or bar registered voters from casting a ballot.
Duhigg, a former Albuquerque city clerk, said the bill, Senate Bill 264, would authorize state law enforcement officials to take action under such situations. It would also allow affected voters or state officials to ask a judge to intervene.
She said in a Monday interview the bill was prompted by concerns over Trump's recent remarks.
"Best-case scenario, these are laws that are put on the books and never used," Duhigg said. "But under the worst-case scenario, we need to have them available to us."
Trump said last week that Republicans should nationalize elections and take over voting oversight in 15 states, though he did not specify to which states he was referring. The president later doubled down on his remarks, describing states as "federal agents" to count votes.
"If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over," Trump said.
Trump also recently labeled New Mexico elections as "so corrupt it's incredible," suggesting he would have won the state's five electoral votes were it not for the state's election practices. Trump has lost in New Mexico all three times he has run for president, most recently by 6 percentage points in 2024.
Legal battle over voter rolls
Even before the president's recent comments, the U.S. Department of Justice had filed lawsuits seeking voter registration lists in more than 20 states, including New Mexico.
While Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has refused to turn over private voter information in response to the legal challenge, the action has sparked debate over the president's authority when it comes to elections.
Specifically, election experts have pointed out the U.S. Constitution gives states the ability to conduct elections under laws that vary from state to state. However, federal laws like the Voting Rights Act set standards that all states must follow.
Toulouse Oliver, who is in her final year as New Mexico's secretary of state due to term limits, indicated Monday she supports the bill pending at the Roundhouse.
"Protecting the safety, security, and freedom of every voter in 2026 is our highest priority, and we understand that recent national events have raised concerns among New Mexicans about potential intimidation at the polls," Secretary of State's Office spokesman Alex Curtas said in a statement.
The Secretary of State's Office is also working with county clerks, law enforcement agencies, and state agencies to ensure all eligible voters are able to cast ballots in this year's election cycle, he said.
Bill could move quickly as session advances
The bill intended to guard the state against possible federal interference has already received necessary approval from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to be considered during the 30-day legislative session that ends Feb. 19.
Specifically, the measure would make it a misdemeanor offense to order troops to polling places, impinge on state election laws or interfere with the ability of state election officials or county clerks to do their jobs.
It would also authorize New Mexico county clerks to develop contingency plans to run elections after a declared state of emergency. Such emergencies could include wildfires, floods and other natural disasters, but could also apply to other situations.
"We don't know what's going to happen, so we need to provide some flexibility," Duhigg said.
Already, federal law prohibits federal troops from being stationed at polling places, unless such force is necessary to "repel armed enemies" of the United States. But Duhigg expressed concern that law might ultimately be ignored by the Trump administration.
Molly Swank, the director of Common Cause New Mexico, a group that has supported beefed-up ethics and transparency laws, voiced similar concerns while also citing New Mexico's top ranking in a recent national survey of state elections.
"We believe that any individual that wants to cast a ballot in our state's elections should be able to without interference or barriers," said Swank in expressing support for the proposed legislation.
Duhigg's bill, which also has several other Democratic co-sponsors, was filed as a "dummy bill," a legislative term referring to placeholder legislation that is introduced before a bill-filing deadline. Such bills can then be amended at a later date.
The legislation will likely be heard by the Senate Rules Committee, its first assigned Senate committee on Wednesday, Duhigg said.
New Mexico lawsuit accuses Meta of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation online - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Meta has failed to disclose what it knows about the harmful effect of its platforms on children in violation of New Mexico's consumer protection laws, a state prosecutor said Monday as a trial began over the dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media.
It's the first stand-alone trial from state prosecutors in a stream of lawsuits against major social media companies, including Meta, over harm to children, and one that is likely to highlight explicit online content and its effects.
In his opening statement, prosecution attorney Donald Migliori said Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has misrepresented the safety of its platforms, engineering its algorithms to keep young people online while knowing that children are at risk of sexual exploitation on social media.
Migliori said state prosecutors will present evidence that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, have emphasized profits over safety.
"Meta clearly knew that youth safety was not its corporate priority ... that youth safety was less important than growth and engagement," Migliori told the jury.
Meta attorney Kevin Huff pushed back on those assertions in his opening statement, highlighting an array of efforts by the company to weed out harmful content from its platforms while warning users that some dangerous content still gets past its safety net. He repeated the refrain that "Meta disclosed, it didn't deceive."
"The state cannot win this case by showing there is bad content on Facebook and Instagram," he told the jury. You must "instead focus on whether Meta disclosed risks to user. ... And the evidence will show that Meta did disclose that."
More than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it is deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and failed to protect children and their mental health. Most filed their lawsuits in federal court.
Also Monday, trial began in a separate case in California accusing Meta and Google of deliberately making their social media platforms addictive.
State says Zuckerberg and others understood the risks
It's unclear whether Zuckerberg will testify. New Mexico limits the ability to compel out-of-state witnesses to testify in person. Prosecutors on Monday did preview a video deposition of Zuckerberg that might figure prominently in the trial.
Other current and former Meta employees are expected to testify that the company has misrepresented what it knows about the effects its platforms have on teenagers and preteens. The state's witness list includes Arturo Béjar, an engineering director at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, who testified to Congress about his daughter confronting harassment on Instagram.
Prosecutors say they'll present evidence that Meta knew that some 500,000 inappropriate interactions with children take place daily on its platforms, and that the company doesn't adequately track those interactions.
Lawsuits across the country
In California, opening statements began Monday in a separate case against Meta and Google's YouTube alleging their platforms are deliberately addictive and harm children.
The outcome there and in New Mexico could challenge the companies' First Amendment shield and Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.
A team led by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who sued Meta in 2023, built their case by posing as children on social media, then documenting sexual solicitations as well as Meta's response.
Torrez — a Democrat seeking reelection this year to a second term — wants Meta to implement more effective age verification and do more to remove bad actors from its platform.
He also is seeking changes to algorithms that can serve up harmful material, and has criticized end-to-end privacy encryption that can prevent the monitoring of communications with children for safety. Meta has noted that encrypted messaging is encouraged in general as a privacy and security measure by some state and federal authorities.
Meta says investigation is 'ethically compromised'
Meta says prosecutors are cherry-picking evidence to make sensationalist arguments. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone posted online Sunday that the state's investigation is "ethically compromised" by its use of child photos on proxy accounts, delays by prosecutors in reporting child sexual abuse material and the disposal of data from devices used in the investigation.
"The evidence will show that the state rigged this investigation to get a fake result," Huff told the jury Monday. "We think you will reject the reliability and fairness of the state's fake-account investigation."
___
This story has been updated to correct that Donald Migliori is an attorney for the prosecution representing the state at trial and not a public prosecutor.
New Mexico Transportation Secretary Ricky Serna to step down after legislative session - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The leader of New Mexico's Department of Transportation will step down at the end of the ongoing 30-day session, after securing legislative approval of a high-profile bill bolstering funding for the agency.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office announced the resignation of DOT Secretary Ricky Serna on Monday, but did not cite a reason for his departure. His last day on the job will be Feb. 20.
Serna, who previously held two other Cabinet-level posts in the Lujan Grisham administration, expressed gratitude for his three-plus years leading the DOT. His current salary is roughly $227,000 per year, according to the state Sunshine Portal.
"I thank the governor for the confidence she put in me to serve my fellow New Mexicans," Serna said in a statement. "You have my commitment to a strong transition and my assurance that a capable and engaged team awaits my successor."
An Española native and former higher education administrator, Serna was tapped by the governor in April 2021 to lead the state's Workforce Solutions Department after a barrage of pandemic-related unemployment claims.
Serna also simultaneously led the State Personnel Office until being appointed to take the reins of the DOT in July 2022.
As DOT secretary, Serna urged lawmakers to increase funding for statewide road construction and maintenance amid rising construction costs and a shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
He also announced in December plans to construct higher curved railings at the Taos Gorge Bridge in northern New Mexico after a spike in suicides at the historic span.
While lawmakers approved a bill during this year's 30-day session authorizing up to $1.5 million in bonds and increasing vehicle registration fees to pay for road projects, some legislators expressed frustration that previous road funding allocations were not put to use in a timely manner.
In addition, Serna did not appear at Lujan Grisham's news conference last week during which she signed the bill — and several other fast-tracked measures — into law.
Serna also faced recent scrutiny over the Department of Transportation having to sell back mobile office units that did not meet permitting requirements at a loss of $857,000, according to a Santa Fe New Mexican report.
The governor did not immediately announce who would replace Serna at the helm of the Department of Transportation, though a Lujan Grisham spokeswoman said an announcement would be made in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, other Cabinet officials in the governor's administration could also be headed for the exits in the coming weeks, as it's not uncommon for such appointees to leave for new jobs in a governor's final year in office.
Actor Timothy Busfield indicted in New Mexico on 4 counts of sexual contact with a child - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
"West Wing" and "Field of Dreams" actor Timothy Busfield has been indicted by a grand jury on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child under age 13, a New Mexico prosecutor announced Friday.
The allegations are tied to Busfield's work as a director on the set of the TV series "The Cleaning Lady" from 2022 to 2024.
Busfield has denied the allegations, initially filed in court by police, and a defense attorney on Friday said he would "fight these charges at every stage."
Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman announced the indictment in a social media post.
Busfield had turned himself in to authorities in January on related charges by police and was released from jail by a judge who found no pattern of criminal conduct or similar allegations involving children in Busfield's past. The grand jury indictment allows the case against Busfield to proceed toward possible trial without a preliminary courtroom hearing on evidence.
Larry Stein, an attorney for Busfield, did not comment directly on the sexual contact charge in the indictment but said the grand jury declined to endorse grooming charges sought by prosecutors. Prosecutors declined to comment on what accusations it brought before the grand jury.
Stein said in a statement that a detention hearing already "exposed fatal weaknesses in the state's evidence — gaps that no amount of charging decisions can cure."
"Mr. Busfield will fight these charges at every stage and looks forward to testing the State's case in open court," the statement said.
An investigator with the Albuquerque Police Department said a boy reported that Busfield touched his private areas over his clothing when he was 7 years old and again when he was 8, according to the initial criminal complaint from police. The boy's twin told authorities he was also touched by Busfield, but he didn't say anything right away because he didn't want to get in trouble, the complaint said.
The indictment — filed Friday in state District Court — reiterates allegations that Busfield "touched or applied force to the intimate parts" of one of the boys on several occasions.
At a detention hearing last month, Busfield's attorneys pointed out that the children initially said during interviews with police that Busfield didn't touch them inappropriately. Busfield's attorneys then accused the boys' parents of coaching their children toward incriminating statements after the boys lost lucrative roles on the show.
But Assistant District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch has called evidence of abuse against Busfield strong and specific, with support from medical findings and the boys' therapist. She also said witnesses expressed fear about potential retaliation and professional harm.
Prosecutors have outlined what they said was grooming behavior and abuse of power by Busfield over three decades.
Each count in the indictment against Busfied carries a possible penalty of six years in prison that can be enhanced if it involves a sexual offense, according to prosecutors.
In freeing Busfield on Jan. 20, state District Court Judge David Murphy said that while the crimes Busfield is accused of inherently are dangerous and involve children, prosecutors didn't prove the public wouldn't be safe if he's released.
Busfield is best known for appearances on "The West Wing," "Field of Dreams" and "Thirtysomething."
Clear Horizons Act, setting emissions goals, heads to New Mexico Senate floor - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
A bill to codify emission reduction goals into New Mexico state law advanced through its second Senate committee hearing Saturday on a 6-4 vote, clearing a path for the measure to be heard on the Senate floor in the coming week.
Senate Bill 18, also called the Clear Horizons Act, would enshrine the climate goals enacted by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s 2019 executive order to lower the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to a 2005 target level. SB18 would adopt tiered goals of 45% fewer greenhouse gas emissions by 2030; 75% by 2040 and net-zero by 2050. The legislation also directs state agencies to create rules for emission reductions, measure the state’s progress, and issue annual reports.
The Senate’s Tax, Business and Transportation committee convened to hear SB 18 just past 7 p.m. Saturday. Chair Carrie Hamblen (D-Las Cruces) limited comments in support and opposition to 30 minutes from each side.
Sen Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque), the bill’s lead sponsor, addressed arguments that the bill would put oil and gas “out of business” in opening remarks to the committee.
“New Mexico, particularly under this administration, has proven that we do not have to choose…between economic development and clean air. We can get both,” Stewart said, pointing to the adoption of stricter methane rules passed in 2021 and the 2019 Energy Transition Act for increasing the state’s renewable energy sources.
Stewart said this year’s legislation has two crucial differences from last year’s version, which failed to advance.
SB18 now allows for carbon offset programs, such as soil and agriculture improvements, instead of direct emission reductions for smaller oil and gas operators in the state or on tribal lands. And SB18 sets a floor so the rules target the largest emitters, defined as those producing 10,000 metric tons or more of climate pollution annually. Stewart said that excludes most “homes, apartments, small farms, neighborhood businesses and personal vehicles,” from SB18.
Critics of the bill included lobbyists from agricultural, oil and gas, construction and mining industries, as well as rural electric providers and state boards overseeing conservation districts, who said SB18 requirements will mean higher prices for energy and other sectors of the economy.
“Cost of goods and services are higher and household electricity costs are projected to be higher as we transition to cleaner energy. Let me be clear, we support that transition. These investments are good and necessary, but the timeline and mandates in SB18 are too aggressive for our customers,” said Matthew Stackpole, a lobbyist for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
Proponents of the legislation included solar and green home manufacturing organizations, environmental groups, several youth organizations and members of the public.
“My family has made a living from taking people fly fishing in New Mexico for over 40 years. Our business has survived plenty of hardships in that time, but the one thing that keeps me up at night is the effects of climate change on our livelihoods,” Nick Streit, owner of Taos Fly Shop, said in a statement. “Catastrophic forest fires, droughts and floods have become the new normal. The Clear Horizons Act is a meaningful step in the right direction to help outdoor recreation businesses like mine have a fighting chance.”
In statements to the sponsors, Republican members of the committee said the legislation goals were “moving forward way too fast.”
“I do believe we do need clean air, we need clean water,” said Sen. Gabriel Ramos (R-Silver City). “I mean, it’s something that we all want, but I think we’re not at a point to be so drastic.”
Sen. Leo Jaramillo (D-Española) said he was reassured that small rural electrical co-ops would not be impacted due to an amendment and said he supported the bill.
“Hearing from students who are worrying about climate and that we have got to act for their future and their children’s future is why I stand with you,” Jaramillo told sponsors after the vote.