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Come one, come all, step right up, the show’s about to begin. Stakes will soon enough be driven into the ground and Santa Fe will be crawling with out-of-towners. Some will be there to watch, others will spend 30 days in the spotlight. Although the actual circus doesn’t come around as often these days, more than 100 state legislators who are tasked with doing the people’s work will fill the two rings that are the House and Senate floors. There won’t be popcorn or peanuts and families filling grandstands will be replaced with lobbyists and engaged residents populating the galleries overlooking the action.
It’s easy for anyone who has watched our state’s legislative proceedings unfold—even once—to see things through a cynical lens. The phrase “pomp and circumstance” and the term “theatrics” get thrown around a lot by experienced legislative observers and participants alike. But according to some veterans of the show we call a representative democracy, much of what seems superfluous and performative is sometimes necessary. Plus, this year’s session will last for only 30 days, so mariachi, flamenco performances and widespread glad-handing will, in theory, be kept to a minimum. Still, it can be difficult for engaged constituents to stomach the constant foot-dragging that ultimately leads to fast-paced, late-night votes during the last several days. It’s also hard not to get wrapped up in the theatrics that come with the sound bite-filled debates. The advice for those of us tracking the session from those who have been down this road, year after year, remains the same though: Check your expectations at the door—or Zoom meeting—and remember this year’s focus is the budget—mostly.
All about the benjamins
Despite how things appear, particularly during the first week, New Mexico lawmakers really do have passing legislation in mind. To the untrained eye though, it sure does seem like our elected officials spend most of their time offering up congratulations to their hometown sports teams, introducing guests and singing songs (yes, this actually happens). The Legislature, not counting special sessions, meets every year. But thanks to the New Mexico Constitution, every other year is devoted to budgetary matters and lasts 30 days instead of 60. Common sense might suggest that a short session with a limited scope would streamline the process, but governors are also allowed to add other issues. This year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signaled that she also wants some work done in terms of gun control. As the proverbial legislative train chugs forward, she can add more issues to “the call,” especially if enough lawmakers clamor for it.
But in the end, the most important thing this year is to come up with a budget that can pass both the House and Senate and get a signature from Lujan Grisham. The governor made it clear last week that she wants to use a sizable chunk of her proposed $10.5 billion budget to bolster the state’s public education programs. But as those of a certain age learned from Schoolhouse Rock, there’s a whole other branch of government that has a say in how much money gets spent and how much of it gets stashed away for lean times.
Speaker of the House Javier Martínez, a Democrat who represents a section of southwest Albuquerque, tells The Paper. trying to control the growth of this year’s “record-breaking budget” while also coming up with something the governor is willing to sign is just one of the needles the House and Senate will have to thread.
“What we’re attempting to do is honor the goals and division of the executive, while also ensuring that we keep our legislative purview over the budgeting process,” Martínez says. “So that’s always a tension point, regardless of who the governor is.”
Another possible tension point that might further perpetuate the song and dance of the Legislature is that the City of Albuquerque will also have its hands out for money. Other municipalities around the state will do the same, but as Martínez puts it, Albuquerque is “the economic engine of the state” and Mayor Tim Keller’s administration is asking for more than $160 million worth of funding from lawmakers. About $80 million of that would go towards bolstering public safety and expanding the city’s Real Time Crime Center.
“Our city is heading in the right direction,” Keller said in a statement a few weeks ago. “This is the time to double down on the investments we’re making so that we can continue to make progress toward a safer, better place to live for Albuquerque families.”
Martínez says he’s confident lawmakers who represent the Albuquerque area can successfully work with the city to come up with at least part of what’s being requested, but probably not all of it.
“Will we deliver everything that everybody’s asking for? I mean, probably not, just right off the bat, but we will certainly work with [Keller] and his administration to prioritize the needs that we can meet,” Martínez says.
Martínez chalks the Keller administration’s high-dollar asks up to a generations-long trend of asking for more than what’s needed.
“That’s a running joke, unfortunately: If you ask for 40, you’ll get 20,” Martínez says. “I think that the mayor and his team have done a really good job of framing the needs of the city in making those legislative asks and requests. As is the case, the asks far outpace what’s available.”
But Martínez does agree the city needs a cash investment, especially, he says, after riding along with Albuquerque Fire Rescue through some of the most poverty stricken parts of the city, where residents are grappling with homelessness and substance abuse. He says he witnessed open drug use and repeated burn marks along walls left over from bonfires.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to happen in the state with regard to behavioral and mental health, with regard to addressing drug use disorders, with regard to rebuilding our behavioral health network,” he says. “That’s going to be a generational effort. This isn’t going to be solved in one session, but we have to start today, if we want to see results in the future.”
Like trapeze artists, lawmakers will have to calculate their moves in order to land the trick that is coming up with legislation popular enough to pass both chambers, while also avoiding the dreaded veto pen. But also like a circus, all of the contorting, at the end of the day, is for the audience—or in this case, the people of New Mexico.
“I think over the course of the next two, three weeks, four weeks, you’re going to see a process that will be tough at times, it’ll be difficult at times, but I also foresee a process that, at the end of the day, will really deliver for the people, which is really what we’re here to do,” Martínez says.
Direct your attention
Most big top spectacles aim to keep audiences attention, especially when the next act needs to prepare and the same goes for legislative sessions. Regardless of the length of each session, legislative staff need some time to pore over bills. Even when bills are ready to be picked apart by senators and representatives, there’s still the committee process, Matt Muñoz, a former lobbyist for the University of New Mexico, tells The Paper.
“There’s not a lot of bills that are ready to be heard on the floor. They have to go through committees and most bills get two committees,” Muñoz says. “By the time those first two weeks are over, that’s when the bills are finally getting out of those committees and making their way their to their respective chambers, and getting set to cross the chambers to the House and the Senate.”
Beyond that, he says, there’s also value in welcoming constituents from all corners of the state to see the democratic process first-hand.
“It looks like they’re wasting time, but I think there’s things that are important: The 4 H day, all of those little advocacy groups that have their days, that get to come up and bring people who never go to the Legislature,” Muñoz says. “They get to experience it and so I think that slow pace allows people to experience it in a way that they wouldn’t in other places.”
Unlike expert jugglers, animal tamers and magicians though, elected officials usually have to perfect their work in public and over a number of sessions, which can turn even the most optimistic observers into seething cynics. Tapping into the state’s permanent fund to increase spending on early childhood education is an often-touted example of how long it can take to perfect proposals and cannabis legalization is another. Both proposals went through years of failed attempts and the latter is probably still on the table for some tweaks this year.
Muñoz cites words of wisdom from former Representative Jim Smith, a Republican who represented a sizable chunk of the East Mountains, who Muñoz says was “one of those Republicans who can work both sides.” Smith also knew the value of persistence, Muñoz says.
“The first year, you realize what the really big problems are, the second year, you realize what the small problems are and then the third year, you probably can get it through to the finish line,” he says. “I think that holds true on so many issues that are out there, and I think that’ll hold true on some of these bills that are coming up this year for the first time.”
Coincidently, Rep. Stefani Lord, (R-Sandia Park), who took Smith’s spot when he decided not to run again, announced that she’ll sponsor a bill to outlaw necrophilia, which might end up being one of those issues that takes more than one session to materialize as a law, even if it garners national attention and leads to talking heads questioning why it’s not already illegal.
While the governor has to pave the way for any legislation that doesn’t pertain to the state’s budget, former state Sen. Dede Feldman, who represented a northwest section of Albuquerque, notes that there’s nothing stopping lawmakers from introducing “whatever they want, like a bill on necrophilia, and get some publicity for it.”
“But it probably, unless it’s a priority of the governor, will not be seriously considered as it’s not on the call,” Feldman says.
A bill to outlaw bestiality breezed through the process in 2023—a session when anything was on the table. Lujan Grisham can still add the topic of necrophilia to the list of approved non-budgetary issues, but until then—and even if it comes to a vote—it will likely serve as fodder and political ammunition against anyone who might question the specifics or unintended consequences of Lord’s bill. As Feldman points out, both House and Senate members are up for re-election later this year, which will probably add to the show.
“There will be partisan dances going on in the Legislature to try to get your opponents recorded in unfavorable votes,” Feldman says. “For example, Democrats who vote for a gun control measure, but are from northern New Mexico or southern New Mexico might get hit with a mailing saying how soft they are on crime and how they don’t believe in the Second Amendment.”
Feldman’s advice for legislative onlookers to avoid getting bogged down by side shows is to keep their collective eyes on the main attraction, which is how the state will squirrel away or spend its surplus.
“Don’t get distracted by the flashes in the pan that, whether they pass or not, are kind of inconsequential, compared to the question of: Are we investing our surplus wisely?”
The legislative circus starts Jan. 16 and runs through Feb. 15. The show is free, not counting the cost of travel and time spent waiting for committee meetings and floor sessions to start. A full list of legislation introduced this year can be found at here.