Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is urging state legislators to develop solutions to address public safety, as New Mexico grapples with a violent crime rate that is alarming, being twice the national average. In her State of the State address on Tuesday, she initiated a 60-day legislative session that will focus heavily on reducing crime and improving child welfare, marking one of her final opportunities to push significant legislative measures before leaving office in 2026.
In her speech, Lujan Grisham emphasized the critical issue of public safety amidst discussions on various topics including affordable childcare and climate change. She highlighted that a substantial portion of New Mexicans—one in three—have experienced serious crime personally or through a close relation. “Everyone in this room knows that crime is out of control in New Mexico,” she stated, asserting that both the public and safety officials recognize the current crisis. Many residents feel unsafe in their neighborhoods, a situation Lujan Grisham described as intolerable.
As she outlined her strategies, the governor called for legislative support to fund these initiatives. With New Mexico being the second-largest oil-producing state in the U.S., there is an abundance of financial resources from oil production designated to help pay for these efforts.
To better understand public sentiment, the governor conducted town hall meetings in cities including Alamogordo, Las Cruces, and Gallup over the past months. The feedback reiterated a common concern: residents do not feel secure. Citing information from the nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center, Lujan Grisham pointed out that New Mexico’s violent crime rate increased by 21% over the last decade and remains significantly higher than the national average.
She identified a complex relationship among poverty, homelessness, mental illness, addiction, and crime, advocating for greater investment in programs designed to help individuals achieve stability and become constructive members of the community. In conjunction with this, leading Democratic legislators are putting forward plans to establish a $1 billion fund to support future mental health and addiction treatment aimed at reducing crime and homelessness.
Additionally, Lujan Grisham indicated her support for keeping suspected dangerous individuals in custody until trial and revising laws to hold repeat offenders accountable, noting that a small group of these individuals contributes disproportionately to crime. “We cannot, we must not let this continue,” she declared, emphasizing the need for effective tools to tackle this ongoing issue.
On the topics of education and child welfare, the governor praised her administration’s previous achievements in expanding preschool access and college tuition assistance. She challenged lawmakers to further these efforts by funding universal childcare and allocating $50 million for an education fund aimed at benefiting Native American students. Furthermore, she introduced proposals for schools to prohibit cell phone use during lessons, a measure that has received bipartisan support in various regions.
Lujan Grisham also called for regular independent assessments of the state’s Children, Youth & Families Department, which has faced criticism for failing to protect at-risk children. “The current system, where families in distress are unable to obtain necessary support, is simply unacceptable,” she stated. She is advocating for a reformation of the governance of the child welfare agency and the establishment of an independent office to deal with complaints against it.
In her plans for supporting foster families in New Mexico, she proposed exempting them from personal income taxes and increasing their monthly stipends.
As wildfires continue to threaten communities in California and New Mexico, the governor emphasized the need for addressing climate change challenges. She proposed a state-backed fire insurance initiative to ensure that residents can afford fire insurance. Additionally, Lujan Grisham advocated for investing millions in solutions to combat water scarcity, including initiatives to purify and recycle large quantities of contaminated water associated with oil and natural gas extraction.
Her administration highlighted that the economic future of New Mexico heavily depends on identifying viable water treatment methodologies, although environmental advocates have raised concerns. Lujan Grisham clarified her earlier comments about the treatment of industrial water, assuring that it would not be intended for human or animal consumption or agricultural use. “We have significant amounts of industrial water that is being put back into the ground. Let’s create technology to clean up that industrial water instead of contaminating our aquifers,” she emphasized. “This recycled resource can support clean energy developments, advanced manufacturing, data centers, and can even be used for extinguishing wildfires in urban environments.”
