PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
New Mexico laws taking effect July 1 reflect progressive shift :: 06/29/2019
SANTA FE - The effects of a progressive shift in New Mexico politics are being felt as new laws take effect that restrict gun access, raise taxes, decriminalize low-level drug possession and provide a major boost in state spending on everything from teacher salaries to road construction.
Starting Monday, taxes on vehicle sales rise by 33%. Background checks will be required for nearly all firearms purchases, and smaller public bathrooms will become gender-neutral.
The state also is raising its salaries and channeling more money toward public education initiatives designed to help at-risk students in response to a court order mandating greater school resources.
Aside from the tax hikes, a windfall from the oil sector will help with increased government spending as the industry is expected to provide the state with a $1 billion surplus for a second consecutive year.
Many of the new laws make good on Democratic campaign promises, while Republican state Sen. Steven Neville warned of “borderline socialism.”
Here’s a glance at the new laws and spending provisions:
Gun control
The gun regulations that go into effect Monday have been a lightning rod for criticism by rural sheriffs, county commissions and many Republican lawmakers.
Most notably, the new laws expand statewide background checks to nearly all gun purchases. That includes sales between neighbors or friends, with exceptions for relatives and antique guns.
New Mexico also is limiting who can carry firearms on school grounds to trained security personnel and prohibiting people from possessing a firearm if they’re under permanent protective orders for domestic violence.
First-year Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham campaigned on pledges to improve gun safety and signed the new initiatives with enthusiasm.
More than two dozen sheriffs in predominantly rural areas vowed to avoid enforcement, equipped with supportive resolutions from county commissions. New Mexico Sheriffs’ Association President Tony Mace of Cibola County compares the universal background check law to texting-while-driving prohibitions that aren’t enforced a lot of the time.
“What we’re talking about is discretion on which laws we want to use to basically impact crime and prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands,” Mace said. “I do think you’re going to see a difference between the rural parts of New Mexico versus the metropolitan parts.”
State Attorney General Hector Balderas has warned sheriffs and police chiefs that they risk legal liability if they refuse to enforce the new law.
Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki says people including responsible gun owners will be glad to see the changes take place.
