Gov. Lujan Grisham addresses bills targeting homeless population
By Corey Howard
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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — New Mexico is only days away from the start of the special legislative session that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called to address crime.
Lujan Grisham says her proposal to give judges more ability to hold people “not mentally competent” could help reduce crime and homelessness in the city.
The federal government said in 2023, there were 3,842 homeless people in New Mexico.
“We’ve cleaned this area up fifty times,” Lujan Grisham said.
Lujan Grisham discussed a homeless encampment near Prospect and First streets. The location is not far from William Johnson’s repair shop.
Johnson is a local business owner who joined the governor in a news conference, and it’s not all about homelessness, but it is also about crime. Johnson said, in 2005, he was stabbed three times during an attempted robbery.
Johnson also said his attacker was released only days after the incident.
According to Lujan Grisham, many people are deemed incompetent to stand trial, and ultimately, they end up back on the streets.
When Thursday’s special session starts, Lujan Grisham is calling on lawmakers to pass two bills expanding the court’s ability to hold someone in custody because of their mental state. One would address mental competency in criminal cases. The other expands the definition of a person’s behavior and whether that person is considered a danger to others or themselves.
Lawmakers say it is a complicated proposal, and the special session may not give them enough time to tackle it.
“It’s a lack of consensus,” Gregory Baca, the Republican state senator for District 29 (Bernalillo and Valencia County), said. “These bills get highly technical. There is very charged emotion on both sides of it. It takes time to work through those issues.”
Even Democratic Party leaders are echoing a similar message.
“What we are saying is we have a deep concern about the impact these proposals will have on New Mexicans, especially the most vulnerable,” Javier Martinez, a Democratic state senator and the speaker of the House, said. “We do not believe these concerns can be remedied in a very condensed special session.”
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