New Mexico lawmakers OK crime bill, $500M in tax rebates

New Mexico state government is awash in cash linked to a surge in oil production and an infusion of federal pandemic funding, allowing lawmakers to provide individual income tax rebates of $250 — and more for parents. State legislators also approved unprecedented new investments in public schools, Medicaid, public safety initiatives and an array of grants, loans and tax breaks to private industry.

The Democratic-led Legislature on Wednesday approved a record-setting $1 billion annual budget increase that provides for $8.48 billion in general fund spending during the fiscal year starting on July 1 — a 14% increase over current-year spending. Lujan Grisham supports major provisions and can veto any part of the spending plan.

Salary increases of at least 7% are scheduled for school district and state government staff across the state, with a minimum hourly wage of $15 for public employees and higher base salaries for teachers.

Annual spending on K-12 public education would increase to $3.87 billion, a 12% boost. Annual Medicaid spending would increase by about $240 million to $1.3 billion as the federal government winds down pandemic-related subsidies to the program that gives free health care to the impoverished.

Legislators assembled the crime bill amid a record-setting spate of homicides in Albuquerque.

It would expand surveillance of criminal defendants as they await trial with 24-hour monitoring of ankle-bracelet tracking devices. Legislators balked at proposals from the governor and prosecutors to ban pretrial release for people accused of certain violent and sexual crimes.

Democratic Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces said the bill should have quick and long-lasting effects on policing and crime rates.

“When we add ankle-bracelet monitoring 24-hours, seven days a week statewide — those are going to have immediate effects,” he said. “The long-term perspective is (that) violence prevention grants, law enforcement training, law enforcement retention — those are going to take a great deal of time.”

The crime bill would expand the ranks of state district judges, boost retention pay for municipal police and sheriff’s deputies and bestow million-dollar death benefits for relatives of police killed in the line of duty.

It sets out requirements for crime reduction grants that pursue alternatives to traditional prosecution and incarceration and expands intervention programs to rein in gun violence.

Police would receive more training to cope with stress, interactions with the homeless and techniques for de-escalating confrontations involving police. And the legislation would revamps oversight of police misconduct investigations.

Criminal penalties are enhanced for threatening judges, possession of firearms by serious violent felons, brandishing a weapon in the commission of an illegal drug transaction and aggravated fleeing from law enforcement under certain circumstances.

Separately, initiatives to expand voting access were thwarted by Republicans in the legislative minority who used procedural maneuvers to block a crucial Senate floor debate. Republicans said many of the changes would have undermined precautions against election cheating and public confidence in election results.

The governor, secretary of state and leading legislators pushed to expand ballot access as a counterpoint to new voting restrictions in Republican-led states since the 2020 election.

The failed legislation would have expanded access to mail-in ballots, declared Election Day as a state holiday with same-day voter registration and offered registration to convicted felons as they exit prison.

At least 19 states have enacted new voting restrictions, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The national GOP campaign to tighten voting laws has been partly driven by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Republican and Democratic legislators came together to approve tax rebates of $250 for individuals who filed taxes or $500 for joint filers and an additional credit or rebate to parents of up to $175 per child.

That initiative also would eliminate state taxes on Social Security income for middle-income earners. Individuals earning more than $100,000 or joint filers earning more than $150,000 would continue to pay taxes on income from Social Security.

The tax relief bill also would give $1,000 credits to full-time local hospital nurses for the 2022 tax year and slightly reduce the state gross receipts tax on retail sales and business services in two stages to about 4.9%. Combined state and optional local gross receipts taxes can reach a combined rate of nearly 9%.

House Speaker Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat, also announced at the end of the session that he would not be seeking reelection.

“I realize that almost everything I’d ever hoped to achieve in this office has been accomplished,” Egolf said. “We have absolutely put the people in New Mexico first and made our state a better place for everyone.”