New Mexico voters in November will decide who will lead the state’s executive branch now that Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is term limited out. Former Congresswoman and US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is on the Democratic ticket having won the primary against Sam Bregman in June. If Haaland wins, she would be the first female Native American governor in U.S. history. She sat down with New Mexico in Focus host Nash Jones on New Mexico PBS recently.
NEW MEXICO PBS: Half of renters in New Mexico spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. You've called for protecting them from corporate landlords. To what extent do you think that those kinds of predatory practices are at the core of this issue?
DEB HAALAND: Well, they're at the core of the issue, starting with the applications when they go to apply to live in a in an apartment. We've spoken to folks who say -- you know, somebody could go in. You could ask them three questions, and you can determine whether or not they would qualify for an apartment. Yet they dole out these applications and charge people every time they put one in. And then, you know, there's folks who talk to me about the fact that the rent was raised, they didn't know it was going to be raised. They had just a few weeks to get the money together for the increase in rent. It's these kinds of practices that really catch New Mexicans off guard.
NMPBS: And what can state government do about that?
HAALAND: I would love to pass a renters' bill of rights. We need to protect renters from these predatory practices, as you say, and just help them to have a place to live. We're short about close to 60,000 affordable homes across New Mexico. There are public school teachers in some of our rural communities who don't have a place to live.
NMPBS: Some estimates are as high as 90,000. You've proposed a shot clock on permitting to help kind of speed up that process. How would that work?
HAALAND: It should take X number of days to get this permit through. If it's not approved in these number of days and it's deemed approved, how can the state help with that? Can we help these municipalities and various offices to be staffed up with the number of folks who need to go over these plans. I mean, look, if we have a developer who wants to build some affordable apartments, they have an engineer on staff. There's licensed architects who are drawing up the plans. We have to believe that we can get these plans across the finish line, and they can start building. You know, time is money, and the longer that folks wait with all the Trump tariffs that are happening, the more expensive building materials become.
NMPBS: Would the shot clock be executive order? Would you work with the legislature to get that enacted?
HAALAND: I would love to work with the legislature on the majority of things we'd like to get across the finish line, namely because it would have more weight and it would be statewide.
NMPBS: Now, amid Medicaid cuts and the end to health insurance subsidies at the federal level, New Mexico has backfilled a lot of these programs with record state revenues. You have proposed going another step forward and creating a state-funded, a state-run insurance program, a public option, as it's called. How would this work, and how would you pay for it, especially given economic uncertainties?
HAALAND: When I think about it, it would be an insurance policy that shows up on the marketplace right now, I've spoken to people who have gotten their insurance on the marketplace, and they were paying $500 before, and now they want to charge them $2,000. These are expensive policies that nobody in New Mexico can -- few people can afford them, but not the majority of people. So we would want the public option to show up on the marketplace that people can choose that option. If we can provide accessible and affordable healthcare to every New Mexican, we have healthier communities. Our healthcare costs go down. When people don't have insurance, they go to the emergency room, and it's more expensive for all of us. People don't go to the doctor just when they're sick, they go to the doctor to stay well. They go to the doctor for their annual checkups to make sure that their heart sounds okay and their lungs are good, right? I feel that that type of healthcare is something that every New Mexican should have access to.
NMPBS: And that second part of the question: How would you pay for it?
HAALAND: We have a budget for our state. I'm so grateful for the legislature and the governor working to fill in the gaps for Medicaid. It's understandable that the Medicaid cuts will really affect New Mexicans come January 1st, and so I think if we pivot some of our budget to ensure that folks in most need can get this public option first that we’ll be in better shape.
NMPBS: Okay, and now you've supported Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's efforts to address the state's doctor shortage. You have proposed tracking the impacts of her medical malpractice reforms. You've proposed joining more of those provider compacts. Are there also other solutions that you'd like to add to those to address the the shortage in providers we have?
HAALAND: Yes. So of course we have a number of students who were born and raised in New Mexico. They already love our state. They go to medical school. They graduate from medical school. I want them to stay here and do their residencies often. These students who graduate from medical school, they go to other states for their residencies. I love the fact that the legislature has focused on student loan repayment programs. I'd love to enhance that for medical students so that they have an incentive to stay here. I've spoken to resident doctors here in New Mexico who say we can get a home loan for no down payment, but we need down payments to make the mortgage payment more affordable. So how can we help these professionals to have what they need to stay in New Mexico?
NMPBS: And now, Secretary, you've called for safeguarding New Mexico's water. There is a proposal before the Water Quality Control Commission at the moment to allow fracking wastewater to be used beyond the oil fields, and a hearing on the science is expected next year. Tannis Fox with the Western Environmental Law Center came on this show. The law center opposes the proposal. She told me the possibility of having you in the governor's office rather than Lujan Grisham, who supports this proposal, is a “question mark” as to whether you will cancel that hearing or end the process to change the rule. Will you?
HAALAND: I think that we need to make sure that we are spending money to research the issue. I do not want to move anything forward with intermingling the water with any other water that we have until -- if and until we know it's safe, the industry they can continue using the water in their operations, I suppose. But at this moment I don't think it's safe for us to put into our streams.
NMPBS: The state is eyeing a nearly $15 billion general fund that you would inherit as governor if elected. As a Democrat, how do you reckon with that kind of political reality, and how would your budget priorities differ from our current governors and the the potential budget priorities of Greg Hull?
HAALAND: That funding, you know, it's kind of a one-time thing, but we just need to invest in our communities. There are so many things that New Mexicans need all across the state. You know, affordable housing infrastructure, water infrastructure that needs to be remedied. I was speaking to a Navajo man from Torreon, and he told me we're driving across bridges that were built in World War II. There's a lot of roads and bridges and all of these things that we can bring into the 21st century across New Mexico, and I would love to see us be a more efficient state. And in the long run, I think that would help New Mexicans an incredible amount.
