Governor Lujan Grisham calls for special session in July
*Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional details about the special session.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday she will call state legislators into a special session starting July 18. According to a news release, the session will focus on public safety.
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“While we made some progress toward a safer New Mexico during the 30-day day session, we agree that we must do more,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said in a news release. “The special session in July will enable us to deliver additional statutory changes that reduce the danger and risk New Mexico communities face every day. The best proposals for making our state safer will be under consideration, and I welcome input from my colleagues in the legislature.”
This will be the fifth special session that Gov. Lujan Grisham has called during her tenure.
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth says the special session will give lawmakers more time to work through details on complex public safety bills.
“The Governor’s announced date for a special session gives us enough time to find consensus public safety legislation that can pass both chambers. Discussions between the Governor and legislative leadership to date have focused on bills from the recent 30-day session that required more work due to their legal complexity, namely: criminal competency, felon in possession of a firearm and panhandling. We have agreed additional gun safety and pre-trial detention bills will wait for the sixty-day session in January. In the next several months, we will also focus on finding ways to expand the critical safety net of mental health and treatment services that are vital to the success of the legislation that will be considered,” Wirth said in a press release.