Alamogordo NM
4-17-2025 4:45am

Governor Lujan Grisham signs budget bills with line-item vetoes

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed three budget and capital outlay bills into law with targeted line-item vetoes, ensuring responsible fiscal management while funding essential services and infrastructure projects across New Mexico.

The governor’s line-item vetoes included 14 line-item vetoes total approximately $331 million that will not be spent, approximately 3% of the total. They include:

  • $80 million for housing programs in Bernalillo County and $10 million for programs in Doña Ana County, leaving intact $110 million for housing projects in general
  • $6 million for bioscience development, contingent on a legislative proposal that did not pass
  • $5 million to help doctors working in behavioral health settings to repay loans, leaving intact $20 million for all health professionals
  • $5 million to help doctors repay loans, contingent on a legislative proposal that did not pass
  • $4.6 million that would have gone through the Public Education Department to tribal education departments
  • $4 million for a Sundance satellite festival and academy
  • $2.7 million that would have paid for student testing
  • $2.5 million for flood control improvements near Hatch
  • $1 million for a public safety campus in Chaparral and $2 million for public safety infrastructure in Luna, Hidalgo and Doña Ana counties, leaving intact $10 million for public safety infrastructure in general
  • $2 million for rural airports
  • $1.65 million that would have covered start-up costs for the Department of Justice to establish an Office of the Child Advocate, contingent on a legislative proposal that she signed
  • $1 million that would have paid for the Legislative Finance Committee to evaluate the new behavioral health package, and $1 million for LFC to create a children’s future task force, contingent on a legislative proposal that did not pass
  • $1 million for career pathways programs at the Higher Education Department

Lujan Grisham also allowed $5 million to go to the Department of Finance and Administration for grants to local governments to close encampments of homeless people, but vetoed language that would have also made the money available to use for streamlined housing placements, campsite services from outreach workers, housing navigators and case managers.

“These appropriations bills represent significant investments in New Mexico’s future, from education and healthcare to critical infrastructure,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “The targeted line-item vetoes were necessary to maintain fiscal responsibility while ensuring that we fund our highest-priority projects and initiatives.”

The bills signed with line-item vetoes include:

  • HB 002: General Appropriation Act Of 2025
  • HB 450: Capital Outlay Projects
  • SB 425: Capital Outlay Reauthorizations

Detailed information on the vetoes, including line-item vetoes, are posted on the Secretary of State’s website in messages here:
https://www.sos.nm.gov/legislation-and-lobbying/signed-chaptered-bills/2025-legislation/

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