ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There are no limits during a 60-day legislative session. State lawmakers have full control over what bills move forward, and that means some environment-focused initiatives have a better shot of landing on the governor’s desk.

A group of Democratic state lawmakers is hopeful 2025 is the year they finally get a proposed Green Amendment across the finish line.

“Our right to clean air, water, soil and environment should be protected above profits for the few elite,” said state Rep. Patricia Roynal Caballero.

The group wants to add a new section to New Mexico’s constitution, saying all New Mexicans have the right to a clean and healthy environment, and it’s up to government leaders to protect those rights.

“The Green Amendment ensures that environmental rights are not just aspirational but legally enforceable, empowering individuals to hold governments and industries accountable for actions that degrade our environment,” said state Sen. Harold Pope. 

This will be the fifth year lawmakers propose a Green Amendment, which would ultimately have to be approved by voters. If it is, New Mexico would be the fourth state in the nation to adopt these protections.

Other state lawmakers are focused on new environmental mandates.

“We’re requiring someone to put something on the shelf that people don’t want to buy,” said state Sen. Pat Woods.

Woods wants to pump the brakes on a controversial rule that will soon require all auto-dealers in New Mexico to increase the number of new electric vehicles on their lots. We’re talking 43% starting in 2026.

“The demand for electric vehicles is somewhere between 4 and 8% of new vehicles,” said Woods. “People will go buy vehicles out of state or on the internet, and we’re going to take money away from our automobile dealerships and their salesmen, because we don’t have what people want to buy.” 

He also has concerns with New Mexico’s electric grid capacity.

Environmental regulators approved those new rules in 2023. Woods says this is the year for state lawmakers — hopefully from both sides –to intervene before they go into effect.

The 60-day legislative session is scheduled to kick off on Jan. 21 with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s State of the State address.