2026 New Mexico Legislature Update: House And Senate Bills Promoting Statewide Real Property Upzoning Wrong For New Mexico; Favors Developers And Investors; Promotes Gentrification; Contact Your Legislators And Tell Them To Vote NO on HB-0103, SB-0131 And HB-0138 |

This “News and Commentary” article is a report on legislation introduced to be considered during the 30 day session of the 2026 New Mexico Legislature. The article was researched and written by private citizen Steve Holman who is a concerned citizen and a homeowner who resides in Albuquerque. He is very concerned about what is in the best interest of his community. Mr. Holman has not been compensated for his article and it is being published as a public service by the News and Commentary blog www.PeteDinelli.com.

House Bill 0103, Senate Bill 031 And HB-0138 Promote Statewide Real Property “Upzoning”; All 3 Bills Wrong For New Mexico, Favors Developers And Investors, Promotes Gentrification As State Policy

BY: Steve Holman, Albuquerque Resident

There is currently a major battle brewing in the City of Albuquerque and now in the 2026 New Mexico Legislature over the enactment of major changes to all zoning laws and to allow “upzoning” on how all properties (residential, commercial and industrial property) are zoned for development. The upzoning will likely lead to gentrification and increased property taxes.

“Upzoning is a land-use planning tool that changes existing zoning regulations to permit more intensive development in specific areas already zoned. Zoning laws govern how property can be used, including housing density, minimum lot sizes, building heights, and parking requirements. Upzoning alters these rules to increase permitted density or intensity of use, allowing more units per acre, taller buildings, or different uses like commercial establishments in residential zones. This process does not directly create new housing but removes regulatory barriers, incentivizing new construction.”

The link to the quoted and relied upon source is here:

https://legalclarity.org/what-is-upzoning-and-how-does-the-legal-process-work/

Gentrification is the process in which wealthier, privileged, typically white individuals move into neighborhoods that are largely populated by poor and working-class residents who are frequently and predominantly people of colour, the newcomers ultimately displacing the original residents. The privileged group includes both individuals and businesses, and often their interests in occupying a particular neighborhood diverge from those of the neighbourhood’s original residents. Proponents of gentrification sometimes argue that an influx of affluent residents to disinvested neighborhoods brings much-needed investment into the area; however, this process often displaces most of the area’s longtime residents and businesses because of rising costs of living.

The link to the quoted and relied upon source is here:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/gentrification

In Albuquerque, the attempt to implement upzoning was done via the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) which is all the city’s zoning laws. It faced strenuous opposition. Hundreds of residents contacted the city council, with letters and petition signatures submitted in opposition and with local neighborhood associations and community advocacy groups standing in opposition. During the Land Use Planning and Zoning committee hearing on January 28, 2026, upzoning was gutted from the IDO amendments. On February18, the full 9 member Albuquerque City Council will vote on the final 140 amendments to the IDO.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Residential zoning covers 27% of Albuquerque’s land and 68% of its properties. City officials have said that 68% of the city’s existing housing is single-family detached homes with 120,000 existing residential lots with already built homes. The amendments to Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance was an attempt to double or triple housing density in established neighborhoods by allowing duplex, condominium or apartment development in all 120,000 residential lots in established and built out neighborhoods. The goal is to increase affordable housing. It will not. The proposed amendments to the IDO included a mandate for “upzoning” of all existing residential properties to double or triple density in established neighborhoods as permissive use requiring no city applications with no rights to contest nor appeal the upgrading by adjoining property owners. The mandatory upzoning would allow for the development of apartment or commercial use, such as bodegas, on all corner lots in residential areas bordering main thorough fares.

With Upzoning legislation thus far failing in Albuquerque, sinister political maneuvering has now begun with a few Democrat legislators sponsoring legislation to make Upzoning state-wide by introducing legislation into the 30 day 2026 New Mexico Legislature. Their goal is sweeping and dramatic. They want to remove many zoning powers from county governments and municipalities under the guise of increasing affordable housing. Powerful forces, both private and political, are at work seeking to ensure Upzoning and gentrification are the new state policy under the false premise and in response to increasing affordable housing.

HB-0103 ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE STATE TAX LAW AFFECTING ALL COUNTY ASSESSORS

One controversy with Upzoning has been its impact on real property taxes, both residential and commercial property. The current state law says that if you re-zone a property, the 3% cap on how much your taxes may be increased would no longer apply. With Upzoning changes, many could see re-assessment on their taxes at market rate with significant property tax increases as a result.

House Representatives Cristina Parajon and Heather Berghmans have introduced house bill HB-0103 to make it so that zoning changes don’t take away the 3% cap. However, what is very damning to this bill is the fiscal impact report.

Within the fiscal impact report on HB-0103 much of its results are extremely worrying. The report says this:

“Valuating the fiscal impact of this bill is difficult due to limited information on the scope of potentially affected properties and current assessor practices related to zoning changes. … [T]he potential impact on property tax revenues cannot be reliably quantified.”

The state is already seeing reduced personal property tax revenue due to expansions in exemptions. The collection of this revenue is important in funding public services. Because there is no reliable consistent data from any single county in the state, they cannot quantify how much of an impact this proposed change would have on tax revenue or how it could impact services.

Further into the impact report it points out several significant issues stating as follows:

“By removing zoning changes as a trigger for revaluation, the bill places greater emphasis on determining whether a change in use has occurred, which may require additional documentation, site review, or interpretation.”

The report goes on to say this:

“The bill does not define “change in use,” which could increase administrative complexity, contribute to inconsistent application across counties, and result in additional valuation disputes or appeals.”

By removing the zoning change as a trigger for reassessment this means that assessors would have to rely on their own interpretations of use and what could constitute a change of use as well. There is no single state-wide legal definition, so it varies between each municipality and county.

It is more likely than not that this lack of definition and uniformity will lead to class action lawsuits and legal challenges against county assessors. This also means that your county assessor could potentially interpret change in use as the property now allowing for permissive uses like townhomes, apartments, duplexes, and retail if you were Upzoned.

Considering the impacts of these changes with unclear definitions and potential for loss of property tax revenue, local county assessors have thus far been derelict in their duties not to oppose the legislation.

The link to review House Bill 103 is here:

https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/26 Regular/bills/house/HB0103.html

SENATE BILL 0131 ATTEMPTS TO IMPLEMENT UPZONING STATE-WIDE

The purpose and concept behind Upzoning must be revisited. The idea is that if you allow permissive use of townhomes, apartments, duplexes, and retail within single family zoning, it removes restrictions and allows for increased development that will hopefully lower costs and increase affordable housing. This is being touted as a solution to affordable housing, despite no mandate for any affordable housing to be built or any legislation to regulate price speculation.

Studies about Upzoning are still emerging and are limited in scope, but the data released is reflecting that Upzoning actually fosters gentrification. It most often impacts low income and non-white communities. It also has been shown to have little impact on housing inventory and price.

This has been fought in Albuquerque, because it utilizes many tools of gentrification as Upzoning proposed in the IDO;

Allows zoning changes for higher density
Relaxes regulatory measures
Does not mandate affordable housing of any type
Excludes community involvement/empowerment by lawsuits being their only recourse
Includes amenities like retail
Places no measures against real estate price speculation
Has no anti-displacement measures for existing residents
Removes protections of historic neighborhoods and sites like The Petroglyphs via removal of height restrictions.

In essence, Upzoning is a deregulatory developer handout that removes many of the guardrails of zoning allowing developers to build what they want wherever they want.

Enter Senate Bill SB-0131 which has been proposed by Senator Antonio “Moe” Maestas.

SB-0131 seeks to implement Upzoning state-wide, but this bill has a massive amount of side effects.

THREE MAJOR DOWNSIDES TO SENATE BILL 0131

There are three major downsides to Senate Bill 0131 and they are:

FIRST: There would be the removal of powers from local municipalities by taking away their ability to manage the following:

The height, number of stories, size of buildings and other structures

The percent a lot may be occupied
The size of yards, courts, and other open space
The density of population
The location and use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes.
The ability to divide the territory under its jurisdiction into districts
Regulate or restrict the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair or use of buildings, structures or land in each district

If SB-0131 is enacted, the above decisions on zoning would now reside with the state instead of local municipalities or counties, removing the ability of individual towns, cities and counties submitted to have any means of self-determination in addressing growth.

SECOND: The enactment of Upzoning by the state will require all county and state municipalities to:

Accommodate one additional dwelling unit within each lot in a single-family zoning district as a permissive use;
Eliminate restrictions on building height and number of stories
Not prohibit residential apartments in commercial zones
Not prohibit duplexes and townhouses in residential zones or on mixed-use lots
Allow in residential zones development for small-scale commercial uses that provide neighborhood-scale convenience shopping, food, beverages, indoor entertainment or professional offices; provided that the uses comply with local rules governing traffic and noise
Not implement minimum parking mandates (a law, a rule or an ordinance that specifies a minimum number of off-street vehicle parking spaces, including within a garage or other enclosed area)

THIRD: SB-0131 also seeks to move all disputes about zoning or complaints to state district courts instead of using local established means. That means residents and municipalities only have filing a law suit as a response to any issues.

If you compare what SB-0131 enacts to what is currently being attempted in Albuquerque, you can see the desired results line up exactly, but now it removes local municipalities and counties of their autonomy and gives massive new zoning powers for the state to manage.

All of this is being done in the name of “affordable housing,” but it in no way allocates for any measures to address the affordability of homes and instead seeks to use our existing communities as a means for developers and investors to further buy up residential homes. Now they can utilize existing infrastructure in established neighborhoods to build what they want wherever they want with market rate prices.

The link to review Senate Bill 0131 is here

https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/26 Regular/bills/senate/SB0131.HTML

HB-0138 REMOVES COUNTY AND MUCIPALITIES HISTORICAL POWER TO MANAGE LOT SIZE

Lastly, we have house bill HB-0138 introduced by State Representative Andrea Romero that adds to the list of legislative sleight of hand. Existing law gives all counties and municipalities the zoning authority to regulate and restrict building heights, number of stories and size of buildings on lots. Existing law gives counties and municipalities the authority to regulate use and density and impose restrictions on the actual size of lots where development and construction can happen. HB-0138 would prohibit both county and municipal zoning authorities from imposing lot size requirements for residential property. HB-0138 essentially consolidates and gives power to the state and removes local self-determination from all counties and municipalities.

The link to review HB-0138 is here:

Click to access HB0138.pdf

ONLY DEVELOPERS AND INVESTORS CAN AFFORD AND WILL BENEFIT

Most regular citizens can’t afford to convert their properties with Upzoning. Developers and corporate interests certainly can and they see value in Albuquerque’s single-family homes in the amount of $14.2 billion alone.

According to the Homebuilders Digest construction costs cover everything from materials to the actual construction. In Albuquerque there are four basic categories of construction:

A value-basedcustom home would start around $175 per square foot. This is a home that would have builder-grade finishes, such as ceramic tile, laminate flooring, basic cabinets, level one granite or quartz, aluminum or builder-grade vinyl windows, value series appliances, and basic plumbing and electrical fixtures.
A mid-range home would start at around $225 per square foot. Mid-range finishes would include porcelain tile, engineered wood, mid-level cabinets with soft close, level two or three granite or quartz, and a moderate budget for plumbing and electrical fixtures. It would also have premium vinyl or fiberglass windows and higher-end appliances.
A high-endcustom home would start at around $275 per square foot. This home would have all high-end custom finishes, fiberglass or wood windows, and professional appliances.
A home with energy efficiency featureswould range between $200 to $400 per square foot depending on selections for mechanical systems, windows, plumbing and lighting fixtures, cabinets, appliances, flooring, and more.

The link to the relied upon or quoted source is here:

https://www.homebuilderdigest.com/cost-guides/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-house-in-albuquerque/

The minimum hard construction cost to build a 750 square foot free standing casita or convert an existing residence to a duplex by adding on 750 square feet of living space at the value base cost of $175 or the mid-range cost of $225 would between $131,250 (750 square ft. X $175) or $168,750 (750 X $225). The homeowner who does not have the cash savings to pay the construction costs, a second or third mortgage on the residence would be required.

Simply put, only developers and investors who speculate will be able to double or triple density by buying up existing homes for purposes of building casitas or converting residences to a duplex or townhome. After that is done, the profit motive will be to sell or rent at the highest level and not for affordable housing.

It is no wonder support of Upzoning is backed by pro-real estate and pro-developer groups like NAIOP (a Commercial Real Estate Development Association), the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, the New Mexico Home Builders Association and the Apartment Association of New Mexico. These are all major players in our real estate market that have furthered policies that have led to our current crisis of housing affordability. They also have all openly pledged their support behind SB-0131 and Senator Antonio “Moe” Maestas in a piece they wrote published in the Albuquerque Journal.

Follow the money and you will see that our state is currently up for sale to the highest bidder. They are having a hard time passing this in Albuquerque, so now the entire state has been made the sacrificial lamb to slaughter.

If these pieces of developer handout legislation were to be passed, only time will tell how the legal response from residents, local municipalities, and county assessors offices could be.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR

Please email the State of New Mexico House and Senate and tell them NO to HB-0103 and SB-0131.

Please tell them that this handout to developer interests will allow for gentrification and takes power and self-determination away from residents and local municipalities.

house@nmlegis.gov

senate@nmlegis.gov

Senator Antonio “Moe” Maestas:

505-986-4373

antonio.maestas@nmlegis.gov

Representative Cristina Parajon:

505-986-4436

cristina.parajon@nmlegis.gov

Representative Heather Berghmans:

505-986-4726

heather.berghmans@nmlegis.gov

Representative Andrea Romero: