Santa Fe, NM — Today, Senate Republicans made several attempts to improve the House Bill 8 crime package. We proposed several common sense floor amendments during today's hearing; several of which have been endorsed or sponsored by legislators across the aisle, the Governor, and District Attorneys from around the state. To no surprise, each of these proposed additions to strengthen HB 8 and improve public safety for New Mexicans was killed by Senate Democrats.

Here are the proposed amendments Democrats voted to kill:

Standardizing the rules to ensure violent criminals are not released back onto the streets while awaiting trial
Targeting property owners who allow their property to aid and abet criminal activity
Expand the scope of 'serious youthful offender' in order to meaningfully address our out-of-control juvenile crime
Target felons in possession of stolen firearms, adding an additional penalty for doing so
Create a crime of 'Swatting' to deter these highly dangerous and increasingly common situations on unsuspecting targets

Following the failure of these public safety proposals, Senate Republican Leader Bill Sharer issued the following statement:

"House Bill 8 is a small step forward in terms of improving public safety." The Senator remarked, "I am disappointed, though certainly not surprised, that Democrats voted to kill each and every attempt Republicans made to improve this package and hold violent criminals accountable. Democrats continually kill our proposals and bottle up our bills in committee, and yet somehow New Mexico is supposed to believe they are 'addressing crime?' New Mexicans, the Governor, District Attorneys, law enforcement officers, and even criminals see this for what it is: Democrats are all talk and no action on improving public safety. They would rather give lip service to public safety needs than actually address our state's crime epidemic."