New Mexico governor promises to crack down on crime and invest in education in State of the State address
SANTA FE, New Mexico - In her State of the State address, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham promised to grow the economy, invest in the future of education and crack down on crime throughout the state.
"The sun is rising on a pivotal day," she said, adding "big and meaningful changes are possible."
She acknowledged the pandemic continues to "wreak havoc" on the lives of everyday New Mexicans, but said the state will not let Covid-19 "take away years of growth."
Education
Gov. Lujan Grisham renewed her push for a seven percent raise for educators across the state.
"They deserve it," she said. "We can afford it."
According to a news release from last month, the pay increase would be accompanied by other increases to base educator salary levels in the state's three-tier licensure system. It would raise minimum salary levels for educators to $50,000, $60,000, and $70,000.
She promised that retention of educators would increase graduation rates and literacy levels across the state.
"At a moment in time where we have the money to do it all, let's not limit it all," she said.
Crime
The governor promised to ask lawmakers for a 19% increase in the budget for the Department of Public Safety.
She promised to create tougher penalties for "the worst of the worst" and "put a wedge in the revolving door of violent crime."
She said the state needs $100 million to hire 1,000 more officers across the state "as quickly as we can."
"I'm asking for those things because New Mexicans are asking for them," she said. "If we want to keep up our economic momentum, we've got to keep crime under the control."
Economic growth
Repeatedly throughout her State of the State address, the governor claimed that the state had more than enough resources to elevate the quality of life in New Mexico.
"Money doesn't belong in government accounts," Lujan Grisham said. "It belongs in the pockets of hardworking New Mexicans."
She praised her administration's increase of the minimum wage and said she now wants to cut taxes "for every single New Mexican."
When commercial sales of cannabis begin, no later than April 1st, she predicts the industry will create thousands of jobs.
"I said we were going to make this economy work for the every day New Mexican," Lujan Grisham said.
Other promises
The governor also announced her intention to ask for $60 million to build a new home for veterans. The current home in Truth or Consequences was built in 1936.
She also said she wants to protect voting rights throughout the state.
"Big things are within our reach," she said. "Blue skies are ahead."
It’s a welfare state and that will never change
She ignored crime for tha pat two years. She is little more than a fascist!
Fascists are a.s.s.ociated with the far right. Grisham is a leftist Democrat. You hillbillies can look these words up before you use them and then you wouldn’t appear so uneducated like the folk that Trump loves.
That’s no longer the case. You have to remember that the definitions that you refer to are often created by leftist inti.ties. Remove That one statement and the remaining definition is CLEARLY the current democrat party. It’s time to officially update the definition based on facts not propaganda
charlie had lots of time to study in the prison libraries.
Stop allowing kids to quit school before they turn 18. Stop giving section 8, food stamps and medicaid for people who are too lazy to work and people who don’t finish school and families who continue to have children they cannot afford to support without the tax payers help.
Finally, stop being a sanctuary state for illegals.
Texas has more people on Section 8, Food stamps, and other forms of welfare as a percentage of total population. Medicaid needs to be expanded in Texas because the lack of medical care costs the state millions each year.
If anyone knows about Section 8, it is you.
Medicais is a government run program. We need less of those not more. The government is not capable of running programs. They’ve demonstrated that time and time and time again
Soon we will have Medicare for all if you want it and universal medical care like all of the other wealthy industrialized nations. This is coming soon. Call it whatever you will.
We won’t have a country any longer at that point.
Section 8, Medicaid and food stamps should only be given to the disabled and the elderly.
Stop having children if you cannot financially able to support them without the help of the tax payer.
Why do we need more Medicaid? Why should medicaid pay for a pregnancy even though they already have a child?
Words. Only words.
At least she didn’t send the national guard to the border to stand around and do nothing at a huge cost to taxpayers.
Another illiterate comment from the leftist nut job!
Illegals cost a lot more than paying the National Guard to secure our border.
He doesn’t care about the cost. He only about open borders and exposing our country to threats
Illegal cost nothing.
They cost us billions.
Free schooling and free healthcare are not free to the tax payer. Plus they don’t pay taxes.
Why does the government reward people who don’t want to go to school and have children they cannot afford?
They need people dependent on the government in order to move us to full socialism.
The next step in that plan is to eliminate the middle clas.s.
How can we fix this? The only people that benefit from this is landlords, Walmart and public schools.
Denmark is socialist. Happiest people in the world.🥰
If you like Denmark so much, move out of your section 8 apartment and move there.
1 out of 40. Wow. Denmarks only happy because you aren’t allowed in their country. All of their rapists are home grown.
Nordic countries have high levels of Bipolar disease, that’s not happy. And according to Danish Gov they are not Socialist. They keep all their energy revenues and tax their people at high rates. They take care of themselves not anyone else outside their borders.
You can’t stop irresponsible pregnancies. That’s the preventive responsibility of the parents that raise you, schools, churches, community groups etc. When that fails the choice is abortion or not abortion. The ones that decide have the kids, then what? The lazy Mom isn’t going to get a job and the Dad is long gone or coming back occasionally for a booty call and making another kid. None of this is the kids fault.
Maybe if parents and kids would spend less time on their phones and social media and more time raising their kids in church we wouldn’t have this problem.
We’ve always had this problem and always will….at least in our lifetime. The larger the impoverished population the more it exists. And after the BS the Governments pulled with the 2020 lockdowns and shutdowns coupled with the huge social packages the impoverished numbers is exploding.
Just what we need.
More kids indoctrinated with
Ignorance and s.u.p.er.s.t.i.ti.on.
Better than them being indoctrinated with leftist propaganda, CRT, BLM non-sense, climate change hoaxes and other misinformation by rapists like you.
As usual, the rants of an old man living in the past with very little real education.
Church isn’t only about God. They help a lot of people..a lot. Many of them that can’t afford any other type of help.
He doesn’t want people to get help. He wants them all dependant on the government.
Your more than 20 years older than me and I have 3 more Degrees than what you have which is none.
Give me one reason why you can’t prevent poverty.
Give me one time in history (as far back as you want to go) when it was prevented.
Did you see than Brittain has lifted all COVID restrictions? KVIA isn’t reporting it because they are Fauci lovers.