THURS: New Mexico Senate majority leader says medical compact legislation ‘close’ ahead of session, + More
By KUNM News
December 18, 2025 at 9:33 AM MST
New Mexico Senate majority leader says medical compact legislation ‘close’ ahead of session
—Patrick Lohman, Source New Mexico
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is “close” to finalizing legislation ahead of the January legislative session that would allow New Mexico to enter two interstate compacts for doctors and social workers, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) told Source New Mexico.
Doctors and advocates have said joining such compacts would play a key role in addressing a statewide doctor shortage. According to research from the National Conference of State Legislatures, states that join the main compact for physicians, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, have experienced a 10% to 15% increase in licensed physicians.
The compacts enable doctors in member states to more easily move between states. Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan advocacy group, compares the compacts to driver’s licenses that allow people to drive freely across the country; the New Mexico Medical Board compares them to TSA pre-check, saying the compacts allow doctors to be “pre-cleared” to work here but still subject to a rigorous screening process.
But unlike 43 states, including New Mexico’s five border states, New Mexico is neither a member of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, nor part of eight other major compacts for paramedics, audiologists, dentists and other specialties, according to Think New Mexico.
The physician compact was one of six that died in the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year after receiving bipartisan approval in the House. One of the others, the compact for social workers, received endorsements from the state health and education departments, both of which said joining was likely to help the state address its mental health provider shortage. According to the compact website, 30 states, including Arizona, Colorado and Utah, are part of the Social Work Licensure Compact.
Think New Mexico issued a statement Tuesday describing a “growing coalition” pushing the Legislature, namely Senate Democrats, to join the compacts, and listed 16 health care providers, three chambers of commerce, four gubernatorial candidates, labor unions, nonprofits and civic groups across the political spectrum like the Coalition of Conservatives in Action and Indivisible Albuquerque.
“Joining the interstate health care worker compacts unites New Mexicans all across the political spectrum,” said Fred Nathan, Think New Mexico’s director, in a statement.
Wirth, in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon to Source NM, said joining the compacts is a complex undertaking, requiring negotiations with each compact commission while also maintaining the state’s authority in a way that “continues to protect patients and those who serve them.”
At the end of the first special legislative session in October, Wirth committed to involving Republican state lawmakers in a working group that would draft legislation. In an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon, Wirth said he expects the Legislature to pass both the physician compact and one for social workers early in the session beginning Jan. 20.
“I’m pleased to report that the bipartisan, bicameral group working on the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and the Social Worker Compact are close to finalizing legislation that will allow New Mexico to join both compacts,” he said.
As for the remaining compacts that Think New Mexico’s coalition are pushing for, Wirth said several are “in the pipeline,” including for paramedics, physical therapists and psychologists.
“Each needs to go through a deliberate vetting process, similar to what we are doing with the medical and social work compacts,” he said. “I support joining compacts when the work has been done upfront to ensure that the state will truly benefit from the results.”
According to Think New Mexico, the state lacks 2,510 Emergency Medical Technicians, 526 physical therapists, 281 physician assistants and 114 occupational therapists to meet national benchmarks. The state also lost 248 doctors between 2019 and 2024, an 8.1% decrease in the same period that the United States saw a roughly 7% increase in doctors nationwide.
Albuquerque's New Mexico Bowl to feature San Diego State vs. North Texas
— Mark Haslett, KUNM News
Football fans from California and Texas will flood into Albuquerque during the weekend after Christmas.
The 20th annual Isleta New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 27 features San Diego State University against the University of North Texas. It’s the first time in the game’s history that the matchup includes a nationally ranked opponent. North Texas enters the game ranked 25th in the nation with a record of 11 and 2. San Diego State finished 9 and 3. North Texas is a slight favorite, going into the game. As of this report, ESPN.com lists the Mean Green as three-point favorites.
San Diego State is a familiar guest at University Stadium. The Aztecs have played football in the same conference with the University of New Mexico since 1978. But next year, San Diego State is headed out of the Mountain West Conference and into the revamped Pac-12 Conference. So it might be a while before the Aztecs are back in Albuquerque again.
Last year’s New Mexico Bowl featured TCU and Louisiana-Lafayette. The City of Albuquerque says the 2024 game brought in around $3.2 million in direct visitor spending.
State green lights $90M for Fairgrounds redevelopment
—Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
The state has formally approved more than $90 million to redevelop the State Fairgrounds into housing and other amenities.
According to the Albuquerque Journal’s Gillian Barkhurst, The State Board of Finance gave the final green light Tuesday, several months after the State Fair District Board voted to allocate state funds.
Despite this eight-figure commitment, the decision on whether the annual State Fair will move is still up in the air.
Last week, the state’s design contractor, Stantec Consulting Services Inc., announced three preliminary designs, two of which kept the fair in its historic home. The third design, however, was the most ambitious, implementing larger-scale amenities and relocating the fair.
But Many local residents have expressed concerns about the redevelopment in public meetings.
Some feared gentrification in the surrounding neighborhood, while others lamented the high price tag or expressed childhood nostalgia surrounding the fair.
NM announces $26M in grants for brackish water projects
—Joshua Bowling, Source NM
The New Mexico Environment Department and Office of the State Engineer on Wednesday announced nearly $26 million in grant funding for seven projects across the state to research and implement treatment of brackish water.
Joshua Bowling with Source NM reports that Brackish water is often found deep underground and is too salty to drink or to water many crops. New Mexico is estimated to have more than 1 trillion gallons of water underground, according to the state environment department.
The grants will fund projects in New Mexico’s largest cities and some of its smallest communities and will focus on developing the technology to introduce new water supplies into the state’s portfolio as well as growing local economies.
Jonas Armstrong, director of NMED’s Water Protection Division, told Source NM that the grants mark an exciting step forward for New Mexico’s small and rural communities. Not only will they hopefully find innovative ways to bolster their local water supplies, he said, but they’ll explore how to bring in revenue by extracting valuable materials, like lithium, from brine that would otherwise go to waste.
Advocates demand NM officials extend public comment period for data center Project Jupiter
—Joshua Bowling, Source NM
Joshua Bowling of Source NM reports that Attorneys with the nonprofit New Mexico Environmental Law Center recently called upon state officials to give the public more time to weigh in on Project Jupiter, the massive data center campus slated for Doña Ana County.
Developers behind the project previously filed two applications for air quality permits with the New Mexico Environment Department which, if approved, would let them emit more greenhouse gases than Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined. The applications requested the ability to build natural gas generating stations with a combined 41 turbines to annually generate about as much electricity as PNM’s entire system.
Attorneys with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, demanded that the state environment department extend the 30 day clock for public comment and broadly distribute analysis materials on the project in both English and Spanish.
—Patrick Lohman, Source New Mexico
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is “close” to finalizing legislation ahead of the January legislative session that would allow New Mexico to enter two interstate compacts for doctors and social workers, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) told Source New Mexico.
Doctors and advocates have said joining such compacts would play a key role in addressing a statewide doctor shortage. According to research from the National Conference of State Legislatures, states that join the main compact for physicians, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, have experienced a 10% to 15% increase in licensed physicians.
The compacts enable doctors in member states to more easily move between states. Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan advocacy group, compares the compacts to driver’s licenses that allow people to drive freely across the country; the New Mexico Medical Board compares them to TSA pre-check, saying the compacts allow doctors to be “pre-cleared” to work here but still subject to a rigorous screening process.
But unlike 43 states, including New Mexico’s five border states, New Mexico is neither a member of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, nor part of eight other major compacts for paramedics, audiologists, dentists and other specialties, according to Think New Mexico.
The physician compact was one of six that died in the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year after receiving bipartisan approval in the House. One of the others, the compact for social workers, received endorsements from the state health and education departments, both of which said joining was likely to help the state address its mental health provider shortage. According to the compact website, 30 states, including Arizona, Colorado and Utah, are part of the Social Work Licensure Compact.
Think New Mexico issued a statement Tuesday describing a “growing coalition” pushing the Legislature, namely Senate Democrats, to join the compacts, and listed 16 health care providers, three chambers of commerce, four gubernatorial candidates, labor unions, nonprofits and civic groups across the political spectrum like the Coalition of Conservatives in Action and Indivisible Albuquerque.
“Joining the interstate health care worker compacts unites New Mexicans all across the political spectrum,” said Fred Nathan, Think New Mexico’s director, in a statement.
Wirth, in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon to Source NM, said joining the compacts is a complex undertaking, requiring negotiations with each compact commission while also maintaining the state’s authority in a way that “continues to protect patients and those who serve them.”
At the end of the first special legislative session in October, Wirth committed to involving Republican state lawmakers in a working group that would draft legislation. In an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon, Wirth said he expects the Legislature to pass both the physician compact and one for social workers early in the session beginning Jan. 20.
“I’m pleased to report that the bipartisan, bicameral group working on the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and the Social Worker Compact are close to finalizing legislation that will allow New Mexico to join both compacts,” he said.
As for the remaining compacts that Think New Mexico’s coalition are pushing for, Wirth said several are “in the pipeline,” including for paramedics, physical therapists and psychologists.
“Each needs to go through a deliberate vetting process, similar to what we are doing with the medical and social work compacts,” he said. “I support joining compacts when the work has been done upfront to ensure that the state will truly benefit from the results.”
According to Think New Mexico, the state lacks 2,510 Emergency Medical Technicians, 526 physical therapists, 281 physician assistants and 114 occupational therapists to meet national benchmarks. The state also lost 248 doctors between 2019 and 2024, an 8.1% decrease in the same period that the United States saw a roughly 7% increase in doctors nationwide.
Albuquerque's New Mexico Bowl to feature San Diego State vs. North Texas
— Mark Haslett, KUNM News
Football fans from California and Texas will flood into Albuquerque during the weekend after Christmas.
The 20th annual Isleta New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 27 features San Diego State University against the University of North Texas. It’s the first time in the game’s history that the matchup includes a nationally ranked opponent. North Texas enters the game ranked 25th in the nation with a record of 11 and 2. San Diego State finished 9 and 3. North Texas is a slight favorite, going into the game. As of this report, ESPN.com lists the Mean Green as three-point favorites.
San Diego State is a familiar guest at University Stadium. The Aztecs have played football in the same conference with the University of New Mexico since 1978. But next year, San Diego State is headed out of the Mountain West Conference and into the revamped Pac-12 Conference. So it might be a while before the Aztecs are back in Albuquerque again.
Last year’s New Mexico Bowl featured TCU and Louisiana-Lafayette. The City of Albuquerque says the 2024 game brought in around $3.2 million in direct visitor spending.
State green lights $90M for Fairgrounds redevelopment
—Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
The state has formally approved more than $90 million to redevelop the State Fairgrounds into housing and other amenities.
According to the Albuquerque Journal’s Gillian Barkhurst, The State Board of Finance gave the final green light Tuesday, several months after the State Fair District Board voted to allocate state funds.
Despite this eight-figure commitment, the decision on whether the annual State Fair will move is still up in the air.
Last week, the state’s design contractor, Stantec Consulting Services Inc., announced three preliminary designs, two of which kept the fair in its historic home. The third design, however, was the most ambitious, implementing larger-scale amenities and relocating the fair.
But Many local residents have expressed concerns about the redevelopment in public meetings.
Some feared gentrification in the surrounding neighborhood, while others lamented the high price tag or expressed childhood nostalgia surrounding the fair.
NM announces $26M in grants for brackish water projects
—Joshua Bowling, Source NM
The New Mexico Environment Department and Office of the State Engineer on Wednesday announced nearly $26 million in grant funding for seven projects across the state to research and implement treatment of brackish water.
Joshua Bowling with Source NM reports that Brackish water is often found deep underground and is too salty to drink or to water many crops. New Mexico is estimated to have more than 1 trillion gallons of water underground, according to the state environment department.
The grants will fund projects in New Mexico’s largest cities and some of its smallest communities and will focus on developing the technology to introduce new water supplies into the state’s portfolio as well as growing local economies.
Jonas Armstrong, director of NMED’s Water Protection Division, told Source NM that the grants mark an exciting step forward for New Mexico’s small and rural communities. Not only will they hopefully find innovative ways to bolster their local water supplies, he said, but they’ll explore how to bring in revenue by extracting valuable materials, like lithium, from brine that would otherwise go to waste.
Advocates demand NM officials extend public comment period for data center Project Jupiter
—Joshua Bowling, Source NM
Joshua Bowling of Source NM reports that Attorneys with the nonprofit New Mexico Environmental Law Center recently called upon state officials to give the public more time to weigh in on Project Jupiter, the massive data center campus slated for Doña Ana County.
Developers behind the project previously filed two applications for air quality permits with the New Mexico Environment Department which, if approved, would let them emit more greenhouse gases than Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined. The applications requested the ability to build natural gas generating stations with a combined 41 turbines to annually generate about as much electricity as PNM’s entire system.
Attorneys with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, demanded that the state environment department extend the 30 day clock for public comment and broadly distribute analysis materials on the project in both English and Spanish.