There was a moment late in New Mexico’s 2025 Legislative Session when it became clear that a lot of good legislation was NOT going to make it through to the Governor’s desk.
Despite a Democratic Governor and Democratic control of both the NM House and Senate, the bill pass rate for the full session was only 14%, the lowest in a decade. 195 bills made it through, out of a total of 1,327 introduced throughout the session.
We experienced a few bright spots. SB 23, Oil & Gas Royalty Rate Changes passed, which means the NM State Land Office can finally charge fair market rates for premium oil and gas leases. Also, birth centers will be paid fairly (HB 56), and we’re getting semi-open primaries in 2026 (SB 16). Still, other critically important bills never received real consideration.
We didn’t get Paid Family Medical Leave (HB11) , which would have given NM workers three months of paid leave to care for family members or themselves. The Clear Horizons Act (SB4) — which would have enacted standards into law and directed funding to address pollution and climate change while also ensuring a just transition for NM workers and communities — also stalled out. Neither could get a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee.
New Mexicans want progressive policies and real change. That includes continued investment in healthcare and education, protecting workers and holding wealthy corporations accountable, limiting pollution of our land/air/water, and addressing the root causes of public safety/crime.
Voters sent a clear message in the primary election and again in November’s general election about their priorities, yet, the NM Legislature got bogged down.
So what’s the problem? Why can’t our state legislators get things done?
Part of the answer lies in another bill that gained momentum before also stalling out in the Senate Finance Committee: Senate Join Resolution 1 (SJR1), which would have paved the way for a professional legislature with representatives who are paid to work year round.
Not Enough Time? It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature
Two things can be true at the same time: our legislative system is slow and clunky. And, it’s working as intended. To borrow a phrase from the tech world, “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”
When New Mexico became a state in 1912, the people who already had wealth, power, and privilege set up the system to their benefit and the benefit of people like them.
Why NM has an unpaid legislature
Not paying legislators, and making it a part of the state constitution, makes historical sense given the backdrop of New Mexico’s founding.
The U.S. was coming off the heels of the Gilded Age. This is the period when robber barons (including the cattle, timber, and mining barons of NM) were making huge fortunes under laissez-faire capitalism.
Child labor, long grueling work hours (and no weekends), unsafe working conditions, low wages, and no social safety net were the order of the day. Plus, only white men could vote. In New Mexico, as in the rest of the country, all women as well as Black, Native American, and Asian men were excluded from voting.
With these limits on civic engagement, it’s no wonder that New Mexico’s constitutional convention was made up of territorial government leaders — a gathering of rich, mostly white, men — who had a big financial stake in holding onto power and shaping the state’s constitution and laws to their benefit.
Their wealth, social position, and the freedom that comes with those things allowed them to run for and serve in public office without getting a salary. Explicitly forbidding a paid legislature in the state constitution is una movida, a crafty political ploy. On the surface, it gives all the appearance of honorable, generous public service, while also reliably keeping everyday New Mexicans far away from the halls and levers of power.
Things have changed since then, but the structure and rules of the legislature haven’t yet caught up.
The Restrictions That Hinder Progress
Regular legislative sessions last only 60 days in odd years and 30 days in even years, with the latter restricted to appropriation, budget-related bills and the Governor’s priorities. Special sessions can be called by the Governor, but legislation must be deemed relevant (“germane”) to the call.
These restrictions lead to a frustrating cycle of starting over from scratch each session. This year’s HJR1 proposing an annual 45-day legislative session (which failed, too) was well intentioned, but let’s be real: it wouldn’t even add session days, just even them out year to year.
The Legislative Rules That Waste Time
Several rules and processes also contribute to the frustration:
- When a session ends, all pending legislation falls off the board, forcing lawmakers to start over from scratch.
- Non-binding memorials and special day proclamations consume valuable time and energy.
- “Points of personal privilege” allow elected officials to indulge in grandstanding and manufactured outrage.
- Lawmakers focus on trivial matters like Smokey Bear license plates instead of pressing issues like climate change and extreme weather preparedness. (We’re Smokey Bear fans around here, but it somehow took years to pass, and was handled before passing this year’s HB 191: Wildfire Suppression & Preparedness Funds, which only came after multiple devastating NM wildfires in recent years and was ultimately vetoed by the Governor who called “meager” as it relied on the uncertain future of federal reimbursements.)
The Tyranny of the Minority
New Mexico’s MAGA Republican Party also exploits legislative rules to waste time, obstruct proceedings, and run down the clock.
They introduce bizarre bills that no one asked for and that won’t pass, aiming to generate clickbait media coverage and spread disinformation. Additional tactics include fleeing from floor votes and using filibusters to stall progress.
Video Clip: Senator Bill Sharer (SD1 – San Juan County) asks an inane, hypothetical question of Senator Katy Duhigg (SD10 – Bernalillo County) during a 2022 floor debate, coining the insult “gravy sucking pig.”
The Consequences: Limited Representation and Accountability
Simply put, this outdated system leads to limited representation and accountability.
Only the rich, retired, and well resourced can afford to serve, leaving out talented people who could bring fresh perspectives and solutions to the table.
Last year, voters had limited choices in both the primary and in the general election. This is due, in part, to most state legislative districts having a “safe” majority of either Democratic or Republican voters which discourages challengers.
While that’s true (and redistricting is a whole other cup of noodles), our state’s constitutional ban on legislative salaries unfairly discourages a lot of talented, capable people from running for office. It’s also an injustice to voters as it doesn’t give them much of a choice when races are uncontested. Plus, it’s difficult to convince people to go out and vote in election after election when so many races are a foregone conclusion and the default winners aren’t compelled to earn their support. Noncompetitive races can lead to complacent candidates who don’t bother to campaign and a subsequent lack of accountability for those who gain power this way.
It shouldn’t be controversial to expect candidates, even incumbents, to face some motivating competition in both primary and general elections. It is, however, difficult to get sitting legislators to pass legislation that could limit their own power or endanger their own political careers.
This isn’t even a party issue, because anyone who works in/around politics knows this truth: we all deserve a more effective, transparent, representative legislature.
All of these issues highlight the need for meaningful reform to create a more efficient and effective legislative system that serves the people of New Mexico. That starts with modernizing the legislature.
A Pivotal Step: Creating a full-time, salaried legislature
Paying legislators is not just about fairness; it’s about creating a more representative and accountable government.
First, paying our legislators is long overdue. How behind are we in modernizing our legislature? New Mexico is the ONLY state in the U.S. that does not pay a salary to its elected lawmakers. They get per diem and mileage reimbursements, but it’s not enough to live on. New Mexicans are not truly being represented if only the rich, retired, and/or extremely resourceful can serve in the NM Legislature.
In recent years, former legislators like Rep. Kay Bounkeua and Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill opted not to run again when the stark realities of unpaid service made it impossible to balance family life, work, and legislative responsibilities.
As Rep. Bounkeua described it: “This debate is not just about pay, it’s about shifting power to those closest to the issues, ensuring our Legislature reflects the people it serves. To build a stronger, more effective government that fosters new leadership across our state, we must modernize now.”
Doing so would allow for more competitive elections, greater accountability, and the ability to modernize our institutions. It would also lead to more effective legislation, better constituent services, and a stronger connection between lawmakers and their communities.
The Path Forward
It’s time for New Mexico to modernize its legislative system. We need to eliminate outdated rules and structures that hinder progress, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because it would better serve our entire state.
Modernizing our legislature means more work could happen in the interim between sessions with more time for legislators to research and draft effective legislation, for town halls, and to work with their new full-time staffers on constituent services.
It means we could also limit procedural shenanigans that waste time and embolden the MAGA minority. We could expand session length to pass more good legislation with popular support. As it stands, we already have special sessions every year, and it feels deeply un-special every time they’re called.
Last and most importantly, modernizing our legislature would restore faith in government and provide a model for progress at a crucial time in our nation’s history.
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt outlined in their recent book, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, how refusing to make these changes makes us vulnerable to a hostile, authoritarian takeover.
Looking at where we are in the US, they are absolutely right…
The Constitution, and all the civil liberties and protections it includes, is being flat out ignored by Donald Trump’s regime. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who no one elected, has usurped congressional authority by shredding the federal budget and dismantling federal agencies.
They are whitewashing our history with dystopian executive orders that read like pages out of Mein Kampf. The regime is disappearing people without due process while also risking a worldwide recession — if not catastrophic depression — by effectively raising taxes on pretty much everything we buy as a result of Trump’s idiotic tariff scheme.
As Levitsky and Ziblatt point out, governments across the world have reformed and modernized their institutions to be more accountable to the people by being honest about the problem.
In their words:
“Many of the politicians who preside over a democracy’s collapse are just ambitious careerists trying to stay in office or perhaps win a higher one. They do not oppose democracy out of deep-seated principles but are merely indifferent to it. They tolerate or condone antidemocratic extremism because it is the path of least resistance. These politicians often tell themselves they are doing what’s necessary to get ahead. But, ultimately, they become indispensable partners in democracy’s demise.”
There’s no better time for New Mexico to lead the way than right now. Until we make these changes, the state legislature will remain in the new Gilded Age what it was in the old — the domain of the rich, retired, and extremely well resourced.