By Susan Morée
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signaled in her State of the State speech on Tuesday that she intends to pick up the fight over public safety that led to a stalemate in the special session this summer.
Lujan Grisham highlighted several legislative priorities, from improving oversight for the New Mexico Child, Youth and Families Department to allocating $50 million for developmental subsidies for families who are priced out of the housing market. She talked about bringing new technology jobs, like quantum technologies to New Mexico and to improve math and STEM learning for public school children.
But among her many priorities, she brought up her intent to compel behavioral health treatment for individuals. Though she didn’t go into details, her intent to put into statute that the courts could compel individuals into treatment raised concerns last summer from Democrats and advocacy groups who questioned the constitutionality of the proposal. This led to a significant stalemate when Lujan Grisham called a special session to address the issue and Democrats in both chambers defied her by ending the special session by the end of the business day without addressing her public safety agenda.
Critics of her plan say that the real problem is that New Mexico lacks the behavioral health infrastructure to help those with addiction and mental health problems, which in turn can lead to crime and people living on the streets.
Lujan Grisham also said she wants to reform criminal competency laws, but legislators said last summer that it would ensure individuals know they’ve committed a crime instead of addressing the real issue, which is poverty and a lack of outpatient treatment programs.
Lujan Grisham appeared to try to address the controversy around her public safety proposals by saying the state can address repeat offenders “while respecting civil rights,” though she was short on details. She also appeared to address the criticism by saying she has built her entire career “committed to fighting these scourges.”
“I do want to return to the pressing issue of making New Mexico safe for every citizen. I do. I recognize that the issues that plague us are rooted in poverty, inequality and generational challenges long neglected,” she said.
Lujan Grisham also proposed attacking the problem of crime from another angle: By offering a new tax rebate to help businesses with the cost of hiring security personnel and equipment.
“Business owners investing in their properties to repel burglars and keep their employees safe should know that everyone here has their backs,” she said.
Lujan Grisham repeatedly struck a note of solidarity with both sides of the aisle, claiming that the Legislature has worked in a bipartisan fashion on many issues such as child poverty. She also highlighted her administration’s accomplishments, such as improving childcare subsidies, a summer literacy program that raised literacy rates by 11%, increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates and the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund, which provided millions for expanded healthcare in rural areas.
She proposed expanding state government by creating an agency focused solely on the housing crisis. She also proposed creating a partnership with an outside expert to evaluate CYFD’s performance and provide reviews to the legislature and the executive branch as well as a department called the Child Protection Authority that would ensure that CYFD resolves complaints that come from families and parents.
“There may be people afraid to report the complaints,” she said of the need to have a separate department to handle it.
She also asked for $205 million to increase the state’s subsidies for early childcare. Currently the state provides child care subsidies for families of four that make close to $100,000 per year.
Another controversial issue she brought up is her intent to require a 180-day school year, even though some Democrats sided with Republicans two years ago to kill a bill in the House that would have forced rural school districts that offer classes four days a week to switch to a 180-school day. After the bill failed, the New Mexico Public Education Department mandated 180 days and many school districts sued. That litigation is still pending.
Another controversial subject Lujan Grisham highlighted was the strategic water supply. Although it has not been popular, she said she wants to “build up the technology to clean up that industrial water rather than pollute our aquifers.”
She said the recycled water could be used for clean energy projects, advanced manufacturing, data centers and, in a likely reference to the Palisades fire in Los Angeles, she said recycled water could be used “to put out wildfires in our urban areas.”
“And let me be clear, and I suggest state lawmakers spell it out in statute, recycled industrial water will not be used for human or animal consumption, or to irrigate crops. Period. Ever. Never. Put it in there. Make it bigger,” she instructed lawmakers.