Mar. 4—ALBUQUERQUE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is leaning toward calling a special legislative session to address two public safety issues that did not reach her desk during the recently completed annual meeting of the state Legislature.

During a news conference Monday at an Albuquerque high school where she signed four public safety bills, Lujan Grisham cautioned she would not make a decision until after she speaks with legislative leaders.

She said while she has the power to call a special session because she’s “mad” some bills she supported went nowhere or because she wants to show lawmakers “are doing all kinds of work” in an election year, neither approach is a good one.

“When you call a special session for either of those reasons, you likely get nothing in return,” she said.

If she calls a special session, she said, one measure she wants tackled is the issue of determining competency to stand trial in both civil and criminals cases.

“There needs to be a vehicle in the court system to make sure competency is being addressed because people are not getting the right [mental health] treatment … over and over and over again,” she said.

The second issue is panhandling and the pedestrian deaths related to it. Lujan Grisham said more needs to be done to ensure “intersections are safe for us.”

It’s unclear how much success the governor would have with the two measures. One bill setting measures for ensuring competency in criminal trials stalled in a committee this winter, and one seeking to limit panhandling activities on public roadways fared little better.

Among the four bills the governor signed Monday is one that would prohibit most people from openly carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a polling site. Another would impose a seven-day waiting period before the legal purchase of a firearm.

“These four bills are an incredible effort to do more,” Lujan Grisham said at West Mesa High School before signing the measures into law. “We have to be diligent and continue this work until Albuquerque and New Mexico are the safest places in America to raise your families, to go to school, to own a business.”

Some of the measures — including Senate Bill 96, which increases the penalty for second-degree murder — were on a list of 21 high-priority public safety initiatives the governor promoted just days before the 30-day session began in mid-January.

Those proposals ranged from a prohibition on panhandling to cutting back the capacity of semi-automatic weapons to raising the minimum age to legally purchase semi-automatic and automatic weapons from 18 to 21.

Much of the package failed to make it through the legislative process.

But SB 96, which increases the maximum penalty for second-degree murder to 18 years from 15 and increases the penalty for attempted second-degree murder to nine years from three, got through, as did another “tough on crime” bill, Senate Bill 271, in the waning hours of the session.

SB 271 allows judges more leeway in deciding to order a felony suspect to be detained without bond until trial if the person previously had been released and was accused of committing another felony during that time.

Critics contend such a move could violate a suspect’s civil rights by keeping him or her in jail until trial. Others cite a report by the Legislative Finance Committee using data from the Bernalillo County judicial system from 2017-21 that showed 95% of defendants on pretrial release “did not pick up violent charges.” The report mirrored the findings in a study by the University of New Mexico Institute for Social Research.

Regarding the study’s findings, Lujan Grisham said during the news conference she did not want to be “one of those 5% where family members were harmed, murdered, my business has been robbed, my car has been stolen. We have to end this cycle.”

The governor also signed Senate Bill 5, which prohibits carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a polling site, making such an offense a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Some exceptions are carved out, including for law enforcement officers and New Mexicans who have conceal carry permits.

House Bill 129, also signed into law Monday, imposes the seven-day waiting period on the legal sale of any firearms in New Mexico to allow for more time to conduct a background check on the buyer.

Lawmakers favoring the waiting period proposal initially pushed for a 14-day period, arguing many federal criminal background checks are not quickly completed. They note current law allows firearms dealers to turn a gun over to a buyer after a three-day waiting period if a check has not been conducted in that time.

But enough lawmakers from both major political parties pushed back against the 14-day initiative, resulting in a seven-day wait period.

Asked during the conference if she is afraid of growing gun violence incidents, Lujan Grisham said she would not choose the word “afraid.”

Rather, she said, “I’m angry and frustrated.”

“I see risks everywhere,” she added. “I don’t remember ever in my lifetime feeling like that.”