Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Happy New Year! Feliz año nuevo!
I hope you, your family and friends enjoyed the holidays. Now that the busy holiday season is over, I am focusing on the work ahead as your Senator representing Senate District 13.
As you know, state legislators will be convening soon for the thirty-day NM State Legislative 2026 Regular Session in Santa Fe at the Roundhouse beginning at noon on January 20th and ending on noon on February 19th.
The upcoming session is a “budget” session unlike the sixty-day session. If legislators wish to file bills unrelated to the budget, the subject matter must be on the Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s legislative agenda, known as a “call,” or “message” from the governor.
Two items that will very likely get an early hearing in the Senate are medical compacts, and the state-wide transportation bill which did not get a hearing in the Senate. It’s my understanding that negotiations regarding the medical compacts are going well—which is very good to hear.
While we can prefile bills beginning January 2nd, there are still many bills being drafted. I am working on a few, one of which is co-sponsored by Representative Cristina Parajón (House District 25) in response to the rising cost of housing, in particular owners of mobile homes in parks who rent their space and who desire the opportunity to collectively acquire their park should it come up for sale to stabilize the rents. Whether this bill makes the “governor’s list” remains to be seen, but this issue has been a concern for years.
Also, I am again working with Representative Andrea Romero, New Mexico House District 46, on a gun bill that will prohibit the purchase and sale of many types of firearms commonly used in mass shootings, such as AR–style rifles. This bill is similar to Rhode Island’s HB 5436, which bans the sale of assault rifles—becoming the 11th state to do so.
On the Capital Outlay side of things, I have been working closely with Bernalillo County Commissioner Barbara Baca, to complete the renovations for the All Ages Community Center on 4th Street NW, Albuquerque.
The county purchased the building late last year, and I allocated $1M of my designated Capital Fund towards purchase and renovation. The total cost of renovation of this building is $15M, which is a third of the cost-- at least--of a new center. Of significance is that this new facility will be next to Calle Cuarta, a high -quality affordable multi-family housing development recently built by YES Housing. This development is on land that was acquired when I was on the City Council. Later, as County Commissioner, I allocated more funding for landscaping.
It is important that housing of this kind be close to other amenities such as parks, community centers and public transportation. On that note, I have always been a strong advocate for affordable housing—which these days means multi-family housing. The word out there is that we lack affordable housing because of zoning that prohibits density. I would argue that it’s the cost of housing along with interest rates that is making it very difficult to build affordable housing and for folks to obtain a mortgage.
There are two events coming up soon that I hope you can make time to attend.
One is the legislative Townhall, scheduled for this Wednesday, January 7th from 6-7:30 PM in the Village of Los Ranchos Hall. I will be there along with my fellow Senate and House colleagues, Senator Katy Duhigg (SD10), Representative Dayan Hochman-Vigil (HD15, House Majority Whip), and Representative Kathleen Cates (HD44).
