Governor mulls special session to tackle public safety priorities

Feb. 15—Frustrated with the Legislature's lack of progress on her public safety priorities during the 30-day session, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday she is considering calling lawmakers back to Santa Fe for a special session.

"Both houses are well aware that I'm frustrated" by how few public safety measures got up to the fourth floor, the governor said during a news conference shortly after the Legislature adjourned at noon.

"It's not off the table that we have a public safety special session," she added.

The announcement caught lawmakers on both sides of the aisle by surprise.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, noted the governor has the ability to call a special session but said he hasn't talked to her about the possibility.

"We haven't discussed it," he said.

Republicans expressed dismay.

"We just came out of 30 straight days of being in session; I don't understand why we didn't make that more of a priority," House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, said in a telephone interview as he was leaving Santa Fe.

"There was plenty of time to get crime bills across, and now we are going to use taxpayers' money to try to get it across?" he asked. "I just don't see it."

Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, R-Belen, said the Legislature "has spoken" and criticized special sessions as a way "to subvert the will of the people and the Legislature" by dragging lawmakers back to the Roundhouse.

"If it's real crime prevention, Republicans always stand behind that," he added. "But if you're talking about simple Second Amendment infringements on the people, we certainly do not support that, and sometimes that's what [Democrats] think crime prevention is."

At the start of the session, Lujan Grisham unveiled a sweeping gun control and crime-fighting package that included an assault weapons ban, raising the age to purchase automatic or semiautomatic firearms to 21 from 18, as well as tougher criminal penalties and mandated treatment for repeat offenders.

Some initiatives in the governor's public safety package, including a bill to create a seven-day waiting period for gun buyers, a ban on guns at polling places and increased penalties for attempted and second-degree murder, passed both chambers, but the majority fell flat.

"I want to just say to New Mexicans, 'I don't think it's safe out there,' " the governor said. "And I don't think that they think it's safe out there because it plays out horrifically every single day, and until it is safe in every neighborhood and in every city, I don't think any of our jobs are done."

She did say she was glad the seven-day waiting period bill passed.

"If we want to make sure that we're making a dent in gun violence, keeping guns out of the wrong hands has to be a focal point. ... That also gives you a cooling-off period for folks who might otherwise in a moment of desperation too quickly are able to obtain a firearm and commit suicide," she said. "Many families, including mine, have been impacted by a suicide by a firearm, so everything we can do that minimizes those impacts is exactly what we ought to be doing."

If she calls a special session, what ends up on the agenda remains to be seen, she said.

But New Mexico, the governor said, needs a "criminal competency bill" to ensure repeat offenders with substance abuse or mental or behavioral health problems "can get the required treatment for more than a minute."

"I think that it's too early to say that it's criminal enhancements or it's any other bills," she said. "I will say that probably the most important gun safety bill — the waiting period — is upstairs, and so my focus is really on evaluating, deeply, over the next 20 days. Certainly a call to action to New Mexicans. You should let us all know what you think."

The public safety package wasn't the only place where the governor didn't get everything she wanted.

The Legislature passed a budget that didn't include several of her high-profile priorities, but she's pursuing some of them nonetheless.

"I'm going to do the strategic water supply," she said, referring to a proposal to tap brackish water that stalled in committee in the final 24 hours of the session.

"Having a statute that talks about the future, we're going to get that later," she said. Meanwhile, New Mexico has a 50-year water plan, she said. "It's clearly embedded in there, which means we've already started the process with companies and stakeholders, and I'm grateful about that because we've got money in some places that will allow us to lean in."

Despite bipartisan legislative opposition, Lujan Grisham said she is moving forward with a plan to require 180 school days per year, which would force rural districts that have four-day weeks now to switch to five days.

"I think 180 days should occur, and I'm proceeding with that rule, and we think we've got sufficient budget," she said.

Lawmakers added an amendment to the state budget, House Bill 2, to prohibit the Public Education Department from requiring five-day school weeks. However, Lujan Grisham said the amendment is "in direct conflict with what I think ought to be happening in New Mexico's public education system" and indicated she might line-item veto it.

"There are rules about changes and vetoes, and I have to follow those," she said. "I don't make rash decisions until I read the entirety of the bill. ... That's why they give me 20 whole days."

Lujan Grisham also said she plans to move forward with creating a state Office of Housing to be funded with nearly $2 million from the Governor's Office budget. A bill that would have created the office received a lukewarm reception at a Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee hearing last week despite the governor making a rare personal appearance at the meeting to push for the idea. The Senate Finance Committee never took it up.

"I wish I'd won that, but we're going to do it," she said.

Asked whether she would be involved in the upcoming legislative races and backing candidates who are more supportive of her agenda, Lujan Grisham said she prides herself on not "engaging that directly."

"Expect to see me very involved on the national campaign trail," she said. "I can't imagine an America with the former president anywhere near it. I will do everything I can to make sure that (President Joe) Biden is elected and reelected."

New Mexican reporter Robert Nott and assistant city editor Nathan Brown contributed to this report.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.