In her third flurry of bill signings this week, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed 22 measures Thursday, affecting everything from teacher pay and licensure to child welfare, immigration enforcement, and oil and gas royalty rates.
She’s now signed more than 150 of the 195 bills passed by the Legislature during this year’s 60-day session. However, her messages on some key bills, including child welfare reforms she signed into law Thursday, indicate continued tensions between the governor and lawmakers — even some from her own party.
With the clock ticking until Friday’s deadline to sign measures into law, Lujan Grisham still hasn’t penned her name on the state’s $10.8 billion budget; lawmakers’ much-debated tax package; or the state’s next round of capital outlay — $1.2 billion for more than 1,400 projects statewide.
Bills that remain unsigned Friday will be “pocket vetoed,” a de-facto veto that happens when the governor chooses not to sign a bill that has passed both legislative chambers.
Child welfare
As she signed Senate Bill 42 — a bundle of child welfare provisions that marked an apparent compromise between Democrats, Republicans and the executive branch — the governor framed it as “an important step” toward requiring parents to participate in the federal Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act program, which addresses drug-exposed infants.
But she also flamed lawmakers’ approach to the child welfare agency during the session, arguing their “unwarranted vendetta” against the Children, Youth and Families Department led them to stop short of fully funding it, while increasing its administrative burden.
“If the Legislature actually wanted to help children and CYFD, it would have fully funded the agency so that it could hire all the staff it needs to succeed,” Lujan Grisham wrote in a message on the bill.
She added, “It is so very easy to throw stones. It takes far more courage, however, to ask oneself what you can do to be a part of the solution.”
It was second flare-up this year between the governor and lawmakers over CYFD reforms. Last month, when Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 5 — creating an Office of Child Advocate to monitor the often-troubled department — she harshly criticized the attorney general and lawmakers.
SB 42 shifts management of the CARA program from CYFD to the Department of Health and holds families accountable for following through with care plans for babies born exposed to substances. It also requires CYFD to assess whether a family that does not follow through on a care plan is able to keep their baby safe.
Education
Teachers won big Thursday when Lujan Grisham signed a measure that raises the base pay at each of three licensing tiers by $5,000.
House Bill 156 increases the base pay to $55,000 a year for Level 1 teachers, $65,000 for Level 2 teachers and $75,000 for those at Level 3.
She also signed Senate Bill 345, which lets prospective Level 1 teachers complete a portfolio instead of assessments to receive a higher-level license. Under the measure, experienced instructional support providers — like social workers, educational assistants and school nurses — who are licensed in other states can use their qualifications to obtain Level 2 and 3 licenses.
In a message on her decision to sign Senate Bill 11, Lujan Grisham called it “a first step towards meaningful regulation” of cellphones in schools. But she added she was “profoundly disappointed” in the Legislature’s decision to amend the bill to make “participation in such regulation optional.”
The amended version of SB 11 that passed both chambers says each public school district and charter school “shall” adopt and implement an “anti-distraction” policy for students’ use of wireless communication devices — most notably, cellphones. But it says they “may” prohibit students from using phones during instructional time, giving local districts some leeway on their policies.
The governor argued the body “squirmed out of” making meaningful reforms “under the auspice of local control” — likely a reference to a more than yearlong battle between the governor and lawmakers over a now-overturned Public Education Department rule requiring 180 days of instructional time at all public schools.
“That is all well and good until this same body blames the Public Education Department — and not the local bodies — for poor educational outcomes of New Mexico students,” Lujan Grisham’s message said.
Environment
The top oil and gas royalty rate for new leases on some of the state’s most valuable parcels of land will rise from 20% to 25%, consistent with rates in Texas and on private lands, after Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 23.
The State Land Office estimated the increased royalty rate could bring in an extra $50 million to $75 million per year, revenue that will help support public institutions.
“We have a legal duty to ensure that our schools, universities, and hospitals receive a fair return and aren’t subsidizing the oil and gas industry,” Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said of the bill’s signing. “By passing this update to the state’s top royalty rate, we will now bring in much more revenue for these important institutions in the coming years.”
State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, who stopped leasing the state’s prime oil and gas tracts in March 2024 after the Legislature failed to pass a measure increasing royalty rates, heralded the decision as both historic and a “smart business decision.”
“You always want to get maximum returns for the best resources, and the oil in New Mexican’s Permian Basin is some of the best in the whole world,” Garcia Richard said in a statement Thursday. “Raising the rate was always the right thing to do, but like with many great things it took some time and a lot of work to make it happen.”
Immigration
Finally, Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 36, which prohibits the state from releasing certain information, particularly driver data, for federal immigration enforcement.
The bill garnered staunch support from immigrant rights organizations, which listed the bill among paltry wins for immigrant communities during the 2025 legislative session.
Republicans, however, largely opposed the bill. In a statement following Senate Bill 36’s passage on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, argued the measure “puts the protection of illegal immigrants over the safety of New Mexico citizens” by contradicting the federal government.
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