Martinez lays out priorities for tough-on-crime session

Gov. Susana Martinez’s regular list of legislative priorities was joined by a number of public safety initiatives that confirmed that this year would be a session with a lot of tough on crime rhetoric. Martinez, a former prosecutor, spoke about the need to curb crime and spoke about how increased sentencing is the way to […]

Martinez lays out priorities for tough-on-crime session

Gov. Susana Martinez’s regular list of legislative priorities was joined by a number of public safety initiatives that confirmed that this year would be a session with a lot of tough on crime rhetoric.

Gov. Susana Martinez during her State of the State Address in 2016. Photo Credit: Andy Lyman.
Gov. Susana Martinez during her State of the State Address in 2016. Photo Credit: Andy Lyman.

Martinez, a former prosecutor, spoke about the need to curb crime and spoke about how increased sentencing is the way to do that.

She laid out this and two other issues—education and jobs—as priorities at the top of her speech, which she read off Teleprompters on Tuesday afternoon.

She spoke passionately about the deaths of two police officers while in the line of duty, officers Nigel Benner of Rio Rancho and Dan Webster of Albuquerque. She said “they were heroes to strangers.”

Their widows were in attendance, guests of Martinez.

Martinez’s husband was a police officer as was her father.

Martinez also advocated for increased penalties for repeat offenders on violent crimes. Some media have been focused on these repeat offenders and several high profile incidents have lead to a big amount of pressure to address the situation.

Martinez did not mince words.

“Call them boomerang thugs, turnstile thugs, whatever,” she said. “We have vicious, heinous criminals among us who are willing to take the lives of our greatest heroes and who have no business being out on our streets.”

She said that “we need laws that are tough in substance, not just in soundbites.”

This includes expanding the offenses that would count towards the state’s “three-strikes” law that results in a life sentence. She noted that no one has been “incarcerated under that law;” the law went into effect in 1994 and the crimes named in the law have minimum sentences of 15 years.

She also supported a constitutional amendment on bail reform that would, among other things, allow judges to deny bail for those who they deem too dangerous.

Martinez also advocated for stiffening sentences for child pornography, saying she agrees with the Attorney General that legislators should pass laws that allow “multiple counts based on the number of images they have.” New Mexico’s Attorney General, Hector Balderas, is a popular Democrat.

She also advocated for stiffer penalties for those who have multiple DWIs, which she said would make New Mexico safer.

She listed the names of four who were recently killed by drunk drivers in high profile accidents.

“Those who repeatedly drive drunk need to face stiffer penalties and so should those who knowingly toss them the keys,” she said.

The 30-day session is known by some as the “budget session” because budget issues are the priority. She recognized that lower energy prices mean that “most agency budgets will have to be held flat.”

She said that this means they would have to prioritize and said that funding public safety should be one of those priorities. This includes money for expanding the amount of police officers.

Other priorities, she said, are expanding funding to hire more caseworkers with the Children, Youth and Families Department, hiring more correctional officers and putting more money towards behavioral health, including community behavioral health clinics.

Ethics also made an appearance in her speech. House Democrats have been pushing hard for ethics legislation since the resignation and conviction of former Secretary of State Dianna Duran, a Republican.

She did not mention an ethics commission, something that good government groups and others have said is the most important step to improve ethics in the state.

In the past, efforts on ethics have failed in the Senate.

Other parts of the address were like a greatest-hits of Martinez’s priorities that have stalled in the Senate.

She advocated for a change to the state’s driver’s license law. She supports a bill that would allow those who are not in the country legally to have a driver’s privilege card, but not a driver’s license. In the past, she has only called for outright repeal to the law that allows those who cannot prove they are in the country legally to get driver’s licenses to drive legally.

While she spoke, someone on the Democratic side of the House shouted out. It wasn’t clear from the press gallery who it was, whether it was a member or one of the hundreds of guests.

Deborah Martinez said, on Twitter, that someone shouted “Shame on you!”

On other issues, Martinez remained unchanged from past years. She still supports stopping those who cannot read at third-grade level from advancing to the fourth grade.

She called for merit-based pay for teachers (“we should provide our most effective with additional pay”) and again repeated her somewhat dubious claim about “inheriting the largest structural deficit in state history.” She also repeated the call for right-to-work, saying “we should end the practice of requiring New Mexicans to join a union or give money to one just to have a job.”

And she wants to “close the revolving door between legislators and lobbyists.”

Another effort—one that her predecessor Bill Richardson also sought—is to reform the capital outlay process.

Still, there were new programs announced beyond increasing penalties for crime.

Martinez called for a program to allow adjunct teachers—that is, teachers who do not have a teaching degree. She said that “we’ve also reduced time spent on state-mandated testing—and it will go down further this year.”

The Public Education Department has had differing statements on how much time is spent testing.

We're ad free

That means that we rely on support from readers like you. Help us keep reporting on the most important New Mexico Stories by donating today.

Related

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

A New Mexico-based LGBTQ rights organization endorsed 15 candidates for state House and Senate seats for the 2024 elections.  Marshall Martinez, executive director of…
Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pocket vetoed two bills the legislature passed this legislative session: one changing the Cybersecurity Act and the other concerning law…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…
Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republican-backed legislation in the U.S. Congress would make it harder for the government to designate new national monuments. The proposed Congressional Oversight of the…
Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican The main things that bring Brayan Chavez to school every day: Seeing, talking to and engaging with…
Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican Brittany Behenna Griffith has a laundry list of adjectives to describe the ideal special education teacher:…
Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican A challenging task awaits New Mexico lawmakers in the next 30 days: Reconciling three very different…
Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News Four years after hospitals in New York City overflowed with covid-19 patients, emergency physician Sonya Stokes remains shaken by…
Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday $10 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act was awarded to six tribal nations and…
Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee discussed a potential constitutional amendment that seeks to limit the governor’s executive powers. The committee approved…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case against the abortion medication mifepristone. It will hear a second…
New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid announced on Wednesday that it will cover the cost of Opill, the first oral contraception approved for over-the-counter use. It is…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

The Navajo Nation and San Juan County reached an agreement Monday about commission districts after the tribe alleged that its members were not adequately…
MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

New Mexico’s 2022 election was ranked most well-run in the country by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab’s Elections Performance Index.…
Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…

GET INVOLVED

© 2023 New Mexico Political Report