Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) and legislative Republicans are openly clashing about the necessity for next month’s special legislative session and what the priorities should be taken up when lawmakers return to Santa Fe.
Top Republicans, in a letter to the governor released on Monday, called for her to provide them with additional information, including language for proposed legislation, and seek their input on what items should be considered during the special session that begins Oct. 1.
“While we understand your office has been consulting with Democrat(ic) leadership regarding the details of these potential special session issues, Republican legislators should be given the same courtesy and opportunity to review the fiscal impact and programmatic requirements associated with these proposals,” the letter stated. It was signed by House Minority Floor Leader Gail Armstrong (R-Magdelena), Senate Minority Floor Leader William Sharer (R-Farmington), House Minority Floor Whip Alan Martinez (R-Bernalillo) and Senate Minority Floor Whip Pat Woods (R-Broadview).
Lujan Grisham announced earlier this month that she would convene a special session of the Legislature to address anticipated reductions in federal funding to the state, caused by a reconciliation bill passed by the Republican-led Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in July. She warned that the bill puts essential services at risk for New Mexicans, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Topics that Lujan Grisham said would be considered during the session included additional funding for the Rural Healthcare Delivery Fund to provide stabilization grants for healthcare providers, allocating money for public broadcasting, action to reduce healthcare premiums and for New Mexicans expected to lose Medicaid coverage, boosting funding for food assistance and providing additional resources to the Healthcare Authority to deal with upcoming changes to Medicaid.
Lujan Grisham also said that she was in discussion with Democrats, who hold the majority in both legislative chambers, about proposals “ to address behavioral health challenges that affect our criminal justice system and community safety” for the special session as well as the regular 30-day session that gets underway on Jan. 20.
Since the end of the 60-day regular session earlier this year, Lujan Grisham has floated calling lawmakers back to the Roundhouse for a special session to deal with not only expected shortfalls in federal dollars coming into the state but also crime.
Republicans argue they have not been consulted about the special session. Sharer told New Mexico Political Report that to the degree that the governor’s office has spoken with him about the special session, it has been more about the plans that the governor and Democrats have for it.
“In the conversations I’ve had with…with her chief of staff, they were, I don’t know, not really negotiations. They were, ‘this is what we’re thinking about,” he said.
Republicans, in their letter, argued that the impacts that SNAP and Medicaid reforms outlined in the reconciliation bill are “highly complex.”
The letter also stated that the idea of New Mexicans immediately losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits “could not be further from the truth.” The letter added that rules from federal agencies on how the reforms must be implemented need to be released before New Mexico can take action.
“Only after federal agencies have acted can legislators and executive branch staff make informed decisions as to what effect, if any, these Medicaid and SNAP reforms will have on New Mexicans and the state budget,” the letter stated.
Sharer also told New Mexico Political Report that there is nothing related to federal funding that needs immediate action, and that many of the reforms affecting Medicaid and SNAP will not be implemented until much later.
Jodi McGinnis Porter, a spokesperson for the governor, disputed the Republican claims regarding federal cuts, pointing to the expiration of federal tax credits for people buying health insurance in the federal marketplace, as well as new work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid recipients.
What does the Legislative Finance Committee say?
Charles Sallee, director of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, confirmed in an email that the tax credits to purchase healthcare will expire on Dec. 31.
He added that work requirements for able-bodied adult Medicaid recipients without children will not take effect until Dec. 31, 2026. However, under the Reconciliation bill, states can apply for a two-year extension if they make a good-faith effort to implement those work requirements. Sallee, though, said it is not known how the good faith effort would be implemented because the Center for Medicaid Services has not issued rules on how to do so.
A PowerPoint presentation that members of the Legislative Finance Committee made to the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee last week stated that work requirements for SNAP households and stricter enforcement of existing requirements will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. More requirements, such as narrowing eligibility for non-citizens, changing eligibility standards based on how benefits are calculated and reductions in the maximum amount of SNAP benefits that a household can qualify for, all take effect on Oct. 1, 2025.
Other reforms, however, are not expected to be implemented for years. That includes reductions in the federal share paid to states to administer SNAP, which will not be enacted until Fiscal Year 2027, and a requirement that states contribute a portion of the money allotted for SNAP benefits, which will not take effect until Fiscal Year 2030 “at the latest” for New Mexico, according to the PowerPoint.
Republican priorities
Republicans have called for a special session to address crime and to revamp the state’s medical malpractice laws since the final day of the 60-day legislative session earlier this year.
Instead of the budgetary effects that could be caused by federal funding reductions, Republicans say they will introduce bills to address violent and drug-related crime, juvenile crime, homelessness, medical malpractice reform, overhauling the state’s troubled Children, Youth and Families Department and legislation related to interstate medical licensure compacts to help address the state’s shortage of medical professionals.
The letter from Republican legislators stated that those issues are “the real emergencies New Mexicans are currently facing.”
Martinez told New Mexico Political Report that Republicans are prepared to put forth several specific proposals related to juvenile justice, pretrial release and medical malpractice reform that were introduced in previous legislative sessions.
“We’re gonna go up there…we’re gonna work hard, we’re gonna try to do what’s best for our constituencies, and hopefully, hopefully we can accomplish something,” he said.
However, Sharer said that how far such proposals can get and whether they will be the subject of discussion in October is up to the governor, who, under the Constitution, decides what is in the proclamation for a special session.
McGinnis Porter did not respond to questions about whether the governor intends to change her mind and include the issues raised by Republicans will be placed on the agenda. After the special session was announced earlier this month, Michael Coleman, communications director for Lujan Grisham, said that in her conversations with Democrats, the governor found that they wanted a scaled-back agenda for the special session, but that, as it relates to public safety, lawmakers should expect “a robust set of proposals from the governor for the 30-day session.”