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Commission Adopts NMAC Legislative Priorities and County Capital Outlay List for 2026
Summary
The commission adopted the New Mexico Association of Counties’ 2026 legislative priorities (detention funding gaps, courthouse/courts funding, EMS/firefighter funding, 700 MHz radios, RISE behavioral‑health funding, IPRA changes, veteran tax‑exemption timelines) and approved a narrowed list of 17 capital outlay projects to submit to the governor and Legislature.
Clerk Clark and intergovernmental staff presented the New Mexico Association of Counties’ selected legislative priorities for 2026 and the county’s proposed legislative capital outlay priorities. Key NMAC priorities included funding adjustments for detention facilities, courthouse construction needs and judge positions, firefighter/EMS funding, state support for 700 MHz radios, RISE behavioral‑health funding, IPRA improvements to limit inappropriate requests and timeline fixes for veteran property‑tax exemptions.
Hecce Miller and county manager Schaefer described the county’s process for selecting 17 capital projects (top three automatically routed to the governor’s office, plus 14 others), emphasizing the need to tailor requests (dollar amounts and project descriptions) to local legislators’ likely capacity to fund smaller, targeted investments. Commissioners asked for better project crosswalks to legislative districts and requested staff provide concise project summaries for delegation meetings; staff said they will provide short summaries and continue outreach to legislators and lobbyists.
The board moved and approved both the NMAC priorities resolution and the county capital outlay priorities resolution, with a friendly amendment deleting a phrase in one provision; staff will submit the projects by the December deadlines and continue one‑on‑one outreach to legislators.
