2025 Legislative Session

State legislators’ first attempt to pass a bill providing oversight of hospital mergers, acquisitions and private equity takeovers failed in the face of overwhelming industry opposition. They then successfully scrambled to get a second — less controversial — bill passed before the session closed. With the Governor's signature, the state will now have permanent protection, but some lawmakers worry the final bill might have too many concessions

New Mexico is facing a health care worker shortage. This year, legislators had the opportunity to pass bills making it easier to recruit and retain these professionals, but most legislation failed.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday, just hours before the deadline, vetoed House Bill 36, which would have allowed optometrists, who do not attend medical school, to perform delicate eye surgeries with only 36 hours of training and 4 hours working on a model eye unsupervised by an actual eye surgeon.

During the past legislative session, there were a number of efforts to change how the political body works. Those included bills to pay members of the only unpaid legislature in the country and altering the length of the annual sessions. But only one passed – House Joint Resolution 2, which would require New Mexico governors to give reasons behind a pocket veto.

New Mexico’s biannual, 60-day lawmaking session ended after two breakneck final weeks with the Democratic-majority, volunteer legislators working right up to the noon deadline. In the end, it was another legislative session that confirmed business as usual for the state’s oil and gas industry.

A bill passed in the recent legislative session to make it easier for optometrists to perform complicated eye surgeries. But a professional association of ophthalmologists wants the governor to veto the legislation because they say it puts patients at risk.

Freshman state Senator Cindy Nava has been nominated for political rising star by EMILYs List, but also had a successful run at the Roundhouse this session. KUNM talked with Nava about her strategy for this session and which of her bills were successful.

Native American students make up 11% of public school enrollment in New Mexico. Yet there are not enough resources for them to learn their Native languages. A bill passed in the recent legislative session would create new schools under a state-tribal compact to address those gaps.

Efforts by New Mexico lawmakers to contain violent crime took center stage Saturday at the conclusion of an annual legislative session — just hours after three people were killed and 15 injured in an outburst of gunfire at a public park in Las Cruces.