New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham Signed Bills Around Housing and Infrastructure

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has put her signature of approval on 4 bills that could help fund housing and infrastructure in New Mexico. The proposals were among those passed by state lawmakers during the 2024 legislative session that just ended.

New Mexico House Bill 177 was a bipartisan bill approved by lawmakers, is designed to help ensure local governments can match federal funding for a wide range of projects. The governor signed the bill into law on Wednesday.

As reported by KQRE: "House Bill 177 potentially unlocks billions of dollars in federal dollars to support statewide infrastructure and rural development projects that will pay dividends for decades to come" per its lead sponsor Rep. Meredith Dixon said in a press release. “This matching fund will be transformational for New Mexico, allowing us to improve our roads and strengthen our communities while creating good-paying jobs along the way.”

The governor also signed House Bill 195 into law. That bill expands the use of an existing pool of funds to apply toward housing development projects. The idea, backed by a $125 million investment, is aimed at increasing housing availability in New Mexico.

In addition to the two key funding bills, the governor also signed a handful of other bills that could impact water projects, land conservation, and workforce development. Those bills are:

• House Bill 211 (making wastewater projects eligible for funding)
• House Bill 148 (letting the New Mexico Finance Authority put funds towards water projects)
• Senate Bill 169 (changing eligibility requirements for disbursements from the state’s Land and Water Conservation Fund)
• House Bill 28 (expanding the agencies eligible for public project revolving loan fund loans)
• House Bill 29 (putting millions toward the public project revolving loan fund)
• House Bill 5 (creating a fund for workforce training)
• Senate Bill 216 (adding nonprofit housing developers to those eligible for New Mexico Finance Authority funding).

The governor is expected to sign additional bills in the coming days, including a suite of laws related to guns and criminal justice. She will sign health care bills on Friday in Truth or Consequences.

She has so far, however, not signalled whether she will call a special meeting of the Legislature regarding public safety legislation, a possibility she floated when the 30-day session wrapped two weeks ago.

Lawmakers sent 78 pieces of legislation to her desk during the short session, including a budget of more than $10 billion.

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