The 2025 New Mexico legislative session is a 60-day session. It begins January 21 and ends on March 22, 2025. Legislation is already being prepared for the upcoming session by the legislature.
On Monday December 2, after a full month of discussions and amendments the Albuquerque City Council voted unanimously to approve a Resolution containing the city’s wish list of legislative priorities for the 2025 New Mexico legislative session. Each priority category focuses on moving the city forward in a safer direction.
The City Council’s list of requests to the Legislature is split among each of the 9 City Council districts by legislative proposals and community improvements and requests funding for construction projects which are referred to as capital outlay requests.
The only joint request for capital outlay comes from Democrat Councilor Louie Sanchez and Republican City Councilor Dan Lewis, Renée Grout and Dan Champine, who requested funding for updates and renovations to the city’s Shooting Range Park. Republican City Councilor Brook Bassan requested during the meeting that she be added to the request for funding.
On the policy side, Sanchez and Grout teamed up to ask for “Enhanced Penalties for Felons in Possession of a Firearm” and changes to the state’s criminal competency determination, which would change the process that determines if a defendant is fit mentally to stand trial. The proposed change to the competency determination process states it would “create a process for raising the issue of competency and establish competency restoration programs. In terms of crimes involving guns, the City Council voted to support stronger penalties for having a gun while committing another crime, such as drug offenses. They also voted to enact charges for shooting a gun in public.
The City Council unanimously approved Mayor Tim Keller’s list of requests, which centers around public safety and housing improvements. The City Council voted to request more funding for Albuquerque’s Gateway system, converting more hotels and motels to housing and overhauling the city’s voucher system. City officials are saying there is a shortage of affordable housing and a shortage of accessible housing. The goal is to get more funding for the City to provide support for the homeless and to increase the inventory of available housing.
Mayor Keller has emphasized that the city is taking a multifaceted, all-in approach to get more people into houses and off the streets. Keller announced the Metro Homelessness Initiative which has the goal to provide the unhoused staying at shelters with the opportunity of employment. According to Keller, the city is overhauling its voucher program and improving collaboration with the nonprofits that do the work.
The city will have a total of 5 centers to deal with the homeless that is intended to be operated as an integrated system:
- The Gibson Gateway Shelter
- The Gateway West Shelter
- The Family Gateway Shelter
- The Youth Homeless Shelter
- The Recovery Shelter
Links to quoted and relied upon news source materials are here:
https://www.kob.com/news/top-news/albuquerque-city-councilors-address-mayors-legislative-priorities/
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_2108e87c-b0ed-11ef-aa7a-4b3482887adc.html
MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF MEDINA OUTLINE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES TO DEAL WITH CRIME
On December 3, Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina held a press conference to outline their 2025 legislative priorities to deal with crime. With respect to crime in general Mayor Keller said this:
“Most of our crime categories are slightly down, that is a good thing. But they are down from an all-time high so we have a long way to go. … .
“We’ve got a 60-day session. So, it’s a long session. Everything is germane. We also know that, as a city, we have many challenges. And we know that these challenges are things that we’re working on each and every day.”
“We cannot do this alone. The challenges facing Albuquerque, New Mexico, are a combination of homegrown and national, and they’re big, and we will keep fighting in every single way, every single day to push back against crime, against housing challenges around homelessness.
… We also know that these are massive issues, and it takes all of us, from the city to the county to the state, to make sure that we meet those challenges with a response that is big enough and of the magnitude that will actually make a difference.”
THREE MAJOR PRIORTIES
Mayor Tim Keller and Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina broke down three major policy proposals they plan to ask legislators to enact in the upcoming session:
- Reckless Driving
- Increased penalties for felon in possession of firearms
- Create a statewide multi-agency task force for Officer-Involved Shootings
RECKLESS DRIVING
Their first and main focus in this year’s Metro Crime Initiative is to increase penalties for reckless driving and speeding. Mayor Keller said this:
“Unfortunately, New Mexico is at the top of the bad list for reckless driving. … It’s a national trend, but it’s a trend that continues to take lives.”
Keller and Medina want lawmakers to increase penalties for reckless driving so that the charges carry as much weight as homicide charges. APD Chief Harold Medina said the department’s traffic division gives out hundreds of citations a week for people racing, but it is still a big issue. Medina said this:
“We have limitations on our reckless driving and how we can charge an individual. Right now, as the charge stands, an individual who is involved in drag racing and is purposely doing that drag racing and injures or kills an individual, that person is open to manslaughter at the most.”
They’re pushing for harsher punishment in cases of reckless driving that cause death or serious injuries. Lt. Lawrence Monti, Albuquerque Police Department Traffic Division said this:
“I’ve had multiple encounters with victims at scenes, families of those victims that arrive on scene and it’s my officers and myself who are the first ones to talk to them and explain to them that they just lost a loved one as a result of street racing or speeding.”
The family of a victim who died after being struck by street racers last October attended Tuesday’s news conference. Chief Medina emphasized their story, explaining why the family wants to see lawmakers enact these changes. He also said he would like to see the penalty look more like a homicide charge. Chief Medina said this:
“We have to build in accountability and people need to know that there’s consequences. And a lot of times we’ve talked about it for the past few years that we have limitations on our reckless driving and how we can charge an individual.”
City leaders are in the process of finalizing a bill for reckless driving enhancements and are seeking bi-partisan sponsorship.
INCREASE PENALTIES FOR FELON IN POSSESSION OF FIREARMS
Both Keller and Medina said they are asking lawmakers to crack down on felons caught with firearms. Medina said this:
“How many times have I stood in front of the media and talked about the fact that I would rather have a case prosecuted federally with their limited resources because their laws have teeth as opposed to the state of New Mexico for a felon in possession of a firearm.”
I would rather have a case prosecuted federally with their limited resources, because their laws have teeth as opposed to some of the penalties that we have in the state of New Mexico for felony possession of a firearm, an individual who should not possess a firearm and is possessing a firearm should be subject to more than 18 months in jail.”
“The federal guidelines and the teeth that the federal penalties have, criminals actually fear criminal prosecution in the federal system. So, we’re asking, in order to help curb our gun violence, that we not only look at the way we deal with these situations, but that we increase the penalties for those that are felony possession of firearms.”
Federally, [felons caught with firearms are] looking at about ten years for a violation and we need to bring our state statutes more in line with some of the federal statutes. So many times, we’re arresting individuals for some of the most violent crime in the city that should have never had a firearm in the first place.
Many times, we’re picking up individuals that have a felony possession of a firearm charge and currently, it’s not 18 months. So, pretty strong emphasis on incarceration, ensuring that individuals know that there are strong consequences if you choose to arm yourself with the gun when you shouldn’t be armed with a gun. I think it will start to make a difference.
CREATE A STATEWIDE MULTI-AGENCY TASK FORCE FOR OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTINGS
Both Keller and Medina are also asking for some changes with who investigates shootings by Albuquerque Police officers and asked for the creation of a statewide task force to investigate police shootings. Medina said this:
“[Create a task force] … that is independent of every police chief, one that is independent of every county sheriff. One that the public can have great trust in that there is going to be a fair, impartial investigation.”
For more information on the Metro Crime Initiative and other legislative priorities click here.
Links to quoted or relied upon news sources are here:
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/apd-lists-priorities-for-upcoming-legislative-session/
https://www.koat.com/article/new-mexico-legislative-session/63086450
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The legislative priorities of both the Albuquerque City Council and the Mayor Keller for the 2025 New Mexico Legislature are well thought out and reasonable. The harsh reality is that they are at the mercy of the New Mexico legislature. All too often funding requests are simply ignored by the legislature. Simply put, rural New Mexico and small-town legislators are not at all sympathetic to the needs of the State’s largest municipality believing in part Albuquerque suffers its own unique problems, especially when it comes to crime, that the City must solve on it own,