It's good to be back after the longest hiatus I have taken in more than six years of writing. It's also good after writing six end-of-legislature columns, to finally write one that isn't a litany of what didn't happen.
Don't get me wrong. Not enough happened, and I will get to that. But tremendous legislation passed that will permanently change how New Mexico is governed and how laws are enacted. Also, perhaps just as important, the stupidest legislation did not pass.
Up front for me are two bills that are in the category of "good government": the passage of semi-open primaries and the elimination of the pocket veto. The first addresses the largest-growing group of New Mexico voters, independents or "decline-to-state." The second shows an underlying trend of the legislative branch pushing back against a too-strong executive branch.
Senate Bill 16, which is awaiting signature by the governor, will allow independents and members of non-major parties, to vote in primary elections. Period. This will bring New Mexico into alignment with the majority of states and will ensure that all voters are able to participate in taxpayer-funded public elections.
The measure had far greater acceptance in the Senate where it passed 27-11. In the House, it squeaked by 36-33. There were "no" votes from both sides of the aisle, although the opposition was more concentrated with Republicans, who tend to think letting non-registrants vote in partisan primaries will lead to fraud.
It won't. I am a proponent of voter ID. I am now an independent. I would love the state to check my driver's license at the polls, and I am totally not going to wreck anyone's primary by voting in it. I will be voting for the candidate who best reflects the needs of the state, and not the party's current orthodoxy. I think this will give voters better choices in the general election.
House Joint Resolution 2 was passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate. It calls for a change to the state constitution eliminating the governor's pocket veto. Currently, the constitution allows the governor to veto any piece of legislation by simply not signing it – essentially ignoring any passed legislation they choose to not enact into law. This "pocket veto" also does not require any communication to the legislature with a justification for the veto.
HJR 2 will put the question to voters in the next election to amend the state constitution. The unanimous vote in both chambers guarantees a veto override, so the pocket veto elimination legislation cannot itself be pocket vetoed.
The tension between the executive and legislative branches became glaringly apparent as House Bill 5, establishing external oversight for the long-troubled Children, Youth and Family Department (CYFD), was finally hammered out in the Senate. This has been proposed and failed year after year. And year after year, CYFD has failed to meet basic benchmarks while making the worst possible headlines.
In the final days of the session, the Senate wrestled with an amendment requested by the governor and passed an amended bill intended to prevent a veto, requiring the legislation be returned to the House for concurrence. It passed the House unanimously.
The signing of HB 5 launched a flurry of snipes between the governor's office and the attorney general's office. The governor also seems unhappy with the legislature, despite the amendment. The bottom line: The Office of the Child Advocate will be established in the attorney general's office with investigative authority into complaints against CYFD. The office will also operate a hotline. No matter the administrative details, all governmental entities should agree on the goal of the Child Advocate: better outcomes for children in state custody.
And some more good news: House Bill 11, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, or whatever it was renamed as, died. This bill was a payroll tax that would make it harder to create jobs, dissuade out of state companies from coming to New Mexico, and leave small businesses with huge gaps in staff.
Now for the not-so-good news: every bill related to attracting and retaining health care providers died. Medical malpractice reform died. Public safety bills did not pass.
The governor and the Republican caucus are calling for a special session. Here's a key issue: without a special session, these issues are unlikely to be heard again until 2027 because of our alternating-year session lengths.
One bipartisan bill that would have addressed this, House Joint Resolution 1, would have changed the length of the every-other-year 30-day session to 60 days, and allowed bills of all topics to be heard instead of those just pertaining to budget issues and those on the "governor's call."
HJR 1 was awaiting a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee as the legislature adjourned. There just wasn't enough time to hear it. One might think that the legislature needs – I don't know – longer sessions. This session over 1,300 pieces of legislation were introduced. Not quite 20% of them passed in this 60-day "long" session.
(Because I am an annoying person who loves statistics, I must point out that ten years ago when the Republicans controlled the House, the 2015 session saw 30% more legislation introduced, and the passage rate was higher: 424 of 1731 bills passed, or 25%. Perhaps longer sessions and a GOP majority would get more done. Just a thought.)
It was exciting to me, especially in 2025, to see the legislative branch come back into its own. Our legislature, many times working across the aisle, pushed hard, without pay, to make a difference for their constituents – us. There is a lot they didn't get done; it is absolutely true. But we will see changes in primary election for the better, our most vulnerable New Mexicans will now have an advocate, and we can support our legislators in our next election by voting to end the pocket veto. That's not nothing.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at
