SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico’s politicians just wrapped up 60 days of heated debates, legislative battles, and lawmaking. Both sides of the political aisle had key victories, but overall how did the session stack up to previous years?
To find out, KRQE News 13 analyzed more than 29,000 bills introduced since the year 2000. The data suggests that 2023’s session was low in the number of bills brought into discussion but about average in terms of how many bills passed.
During the 2023 regular session, more than 1,000 bills were brought to the table. That may sound like a lot, but that’s below average for 60-day sessions.
There’s only so much that can be done in 60 days. But data from the New Mexico legislature shows that recently, lawmakers have been bringing fewer bills to the table for discussion. That may not necessarily be a bad thing, however, as it could mean that lawmakers are simply focusing their efforts on a few key pieces of legislation.
Another difference this session, and in recent years, is the percentage of bills that are the byproduct of collaboration. During the 2023 session, there were more bills with sponsors from differing political parties than in prior years. The data isn’t perfect: For bills with more than three co-sponsors, KRQE News 13 only analyzed the parties of the first three sponsors. But there does seem to be a trend towards multiple lawmakers joining on to co-support bills.
But introducing legislation is just the first step. Getting bills passed is a whole other matter.
This year, legislators passed 220 bills. That’s out of the more than 1,000 bills they brought to the table. So, about 20% of the legislation they drafted this year made it through the legislative process.
Some types of bills, however, were passed at a lower rate. Crime and penalty legislation, such as a bill to penalize negligent firearm owners, had a harder time getting through both the House and Senate. Of the 97 crime bills introduced this year, only about 16% made it to the Governor’s desk.
While it may seem like a low percentage of bills made it through the session, data from previous years shows that this year’s session was actually about average. For example, in the 2017, 2019, and 2021 60-day sessions, around 20% of all the bills introduced each session made it to the Governor’s desk.
