Governor signs four of five special session bills — including health care and food assistance measures — while vaccine legislation remains under review

Source New Mexico Staff

This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday signed most of the legislation passed during this week’s special session of the New Mexico Legislature, according to a news release from her office.

She did not sign Senate Bill 3, which would expand the New Mexico Department of Health’s authority to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for children, as well as allow the department to use additional sources than a sole federal advisory committee to create guidelines for school and daycare vaccination policy amid federal upheaval. The bill drew hours of Republican opposition during hearings and failed on Thursday to receive the two-thirds majority vote required to include an emergency clause that would have made it effective immediately.

In a news release on Thursday, Lujan Grisham, in a statement, said she was “deeply disappointed in Republicans for voting to restrict vaccines,” and that “there is no good reason for Republicans to make New Mexicans wait 90 days for vaccines they need to protect their health.” The governor’s Deputy Communications Director Jodi McGinnis Porter on Friday responded to Source’s query about the unsigned bill via text message to say that the governor “is still deliberating on it and we will have something on it next week.”

The governor signed the other four bills passed —most of which respond to federal funding cuts — and said in a statement: “When federal support falls short, New Mexico steps up — that’s our commitment to families who depend on these services. This funding protects the basics: food security, affordable health care, and access to care.”

House Bill 1 includes $162 million in emergency funding, including $66 million for the state Health Care Authority; $16.6 million  to maintain federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and $8 million for food banks and pantries, among other food-related expenses. The bill also includes $17 million to reduce health insurance costs on the state BeWell marketplace. HB1 transfers $30 million into the state’s emergency contingency fund and $50 million into the rural healthcare fund.

House Bill 2 addresses the expiring Affordable Care Act premium health insurance tax credits, which have become a line in the sand in federal budget negotiations. The bill allows New Mexicans above 400% of the federal poverty level to receive assistance through the state’s Health Care Affordability Fund if they meet other eligibility requirements. The $17.3 million to do this for the current fiscal year is included in HB1.

Senate Bill 1 transfers $50 million from the general fund to the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund to “stabilize existing health care services at risk of reduction or closure in rural and underserved areas across New Mexico, and “broadens eligibility beyond counties with populations under 100,000 to include providers in federally designated high-needs health professional shortage areas and tribally operated facilities.”

Senate Bill 2 takes effect immediately as an emergency measure and allows metropolitan court judges to preside over criminal competency proceedings, reversing a prior change earlier in 2025 that required all such cases to go to district court.