By Justin Horwath, NM In Depth It’s a safe bet Democrats will barrel into 2025 with their supremacy intact at the New Mexico Legislature. Barring an unexpected shock during this year’s elections, Democrats’ stranglehold on power is assured. Going into the 2024 contests, Democrats control nearly two-thirds of all seats in the House and nearly three of every five seats in the Senate. The question going into the June primary election is whether the party’s progressive wing will continue to increase power in the Legislature or will more centrist Democrats hold ground.   This year’s effort ..read more

U.S. Representatives Melanie Stansbury and Gabriel “Gabe” Vasquezannounced $16 million in federal grants earmarked for 28 nonprofit organizations across New Mexico that offer services to homeless individuals and families.  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will administer the grants. Vasquez, who represents New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, told reporters during a press conference in Albuquerque that the grant opportunity will enable the nonprofit recipients to budget accordingly but that there is no current timeline for when the funds will be distributed.  ..read more

New Mexico will receive millions in federal money to increase access to solar power. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced recipients of the $7 billion Solar for All competition awards on Monday. The state will receive $156 million through the program, which is enough to increase solar access for more than 21,000 households. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department will oversee the state’s Solar for All program. “The EPA’s Solar for All program is an unprecedented investment in clean, affordable renewable energy for low-income communities across the country ..read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a final rule Friday to designate two types of PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances. Those two chemicals are perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOA, and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS.  PFOA is the chemical that DuPont formerly used to make Teflon while PFOS was used as an ingredient in 3M’s Scotchgard. According to the Environmental Working Group, which has advocated for PFAS regulation and cleanup, those products were phased out in the United States due to concerns about health risks. “The rule will finally hold PFAS pol ..read more

New Mexico Voices for Children, an organization that focuses on tax policy and how it impacts children in poverty, has new leadership. Gabrielle Uballez replaces Amber Wallin as executive director of the nonprofit. Uballez began her new position last month. Uballez told NM Political Report that her interest in advocacy work was sparked when she was a child living in New Mexico. After school and during summer breaks, she participated in a program called Working Classroom, which provides art mentors to youth to build art skills focused on advocacy and social justice. Uballez attributes that earl ..read more

An abortion fund provider unveiled a rebrand and offered an open house in Las Cruces to celebrate the organization’s new name, mission and values.  Faith Roots Reproductive Action is the new name of the abortion fund provider previously known as the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Joan Lamunyon Sanford, executive director of FRRA, said one of the primary reasons to change the organization’s name was because of the cognitive dissonance it caused. “Mostly it was confusing,” Lamunyon Sanford said. “We found it was confusing and even frightening to many of our abortion ..read more

Earlier this month, the New Mexico Supreme Court denied and dismissed the effort to challenge six laws enacted in 2023. The New Mexico Supreme Court denied and dismissed the case New Mexico Turn Around v. Maggie Toulouse Oliver on April 8. That effectively brought an end to the effort to challenge six laws including two voting rights laws, two reproductive and gender affirming care laws, one law about sexual identity and one School-Based Health Center law, to an end.  Some conservative groups tried to challenge those laws in 2023 by circulating petitions to repeal those laws. The New Mexi ..read more

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management finalized its controversial public lands rule on Thursday. This rule is controversial because it allows for conservation leasing which advocates say puts conservation on equal footing with fossil fuel extraction and grazing. In addition to allowing conservation leasing, the rule calls on the BLM to designate more Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, which can help protect sacred sites and resources as well as wildlife habitat. These ACECs are designated to protect site-specific resources, which means the activities allowed in a particular ACEC may be diff ..read more

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury announced a bill on Thursday that would, if enacted, establish judicial ethics to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Judicial Ethics Enforcement Act of 2024 would create an Office of the Inspector General within the judicial branch to ensure judicial ethics are maintained. Offices of the Inspector General provide oversight for federal agencies. The offices provide reports about the agencies they oversee and issue those regularly to Congress. Stansbury, who represents New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, stood on the steps of the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C ..read more

As the world looks to decarbonize, governments are promoting hydrogen, a somewhat controversial energy source, as an important component of that effort. But that means there will need to be locations to store the hydrogen, a notoriously tricky process. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque are examining some of the possibilities for storing hydrogen and have partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Subsurface Hydrogen Assessment, Storage and Technology Acceleration project. A recent study published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy looks at using deplet ..read more