ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The clock is ticking for New Mexico lawmakers as they get ready for the 60-day legislative session that begins Tuesday.

A big priority for lawmakers is crime. Several bills are focusing on improving public safety and cracking down on criminals.

“Kids don’t feel safe. They’re worried and they shouldn’t (be), it shouldn’t be like that,” said state Rep. Joy Garratt, a Democrat who represents District 29 in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

Garratt’s district encompasses northwest Albuquerque but the bills she is introducing would impact the entire state, if they pass.

“It is a tool and a mechanism to benefit people throughout the state,” Garratt said.

Garratt said one of her goals for the legislative session is to hold criminals accountable.

“If someone threatens, specifically schools, but it could be any public institution,” Garratt said. “Until now, it was a misdemeanor, unlike bomb threats, which are fourth-degree felonies. This bill changes shooting threats to fourth-degree felonies.”

Garratt said she was inspired to create House Bill 31 after a 10-year-old asked for help.

“A fourth grader, when I was going door-to-door this summer, said, ‘Miss Garratt, can you do something about school shootings? Because we’re afraid to go to school,’” she said. “That’s a 10-year-old speaking.”

If passed, the bill would also make things easier for law enforcement, especially when it comes to minors.

“Until now, juvenile probation could handle up to three misdemeanors without involving the district attorneys,” Garratt continued. “This allows district attorneys [to do] a deeper dive into the situation because it’s a more serious offense.”

The bill comes after dozens of threats were made against schools across the state last year.

“This helps law enforcement to be more effective in addressing threats,” Garratt said. “It helps kids and families to feel safer when they go to school. It’s a win-win.”

More social media threats have come up but Garratt explained those are trickier.

“I talked to the crisis unit at APD, and they said some of the problems with social media is you don’t always know where it’s coming from,” Garratt said.

But if they can track down the person, they could be charged.

Garratt also filed a bill focused on helping people in crisis via New Mexico’s red flag law.

“This is when a person in crisis [is] risking shooting themselves or shooting others,” she explained. “It’s a mechanism to say, let’s take your guns away.”

Under the current Firearm Protection Act Amendment, once someone is told to surrender their firearms, they have 48 hours. Garratt believes that’s too long and thinks her legislation, House Bill 12, would fix that.

Sponsoring the bill are state Rep. Christine Chandler – a Democrat who represents Los Alamos, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties in the state House – and state Sen. Katy M. Duhigg, a Democrat who represents Bernalillo and Sandoval in the New Mexico Senate.

“If they’re truly in crisis, [it] gives them quite a bit of room to maybe do something they would be better off not doing,” Garratt said. “So, this says that, as soon as the petition is presented to them, they need to surrender their firearms.”

House Bill 12 would also clarify who can petition for someone to surrender their firearms, allowing law enforcement to do that if they see someone in crisis.

In addition to public safety, Garratt said she is prioritizing education and transportation. Literacy rates in the state continue to be some of the lowest in the country so she plans on introducing legislation to help with that.

“I’ll probably be working on some bills dealing with structured literacy preparation programs for teachers, math education, special education, some areas having to do with how we fund our schools,” Garratt said.

Garratt said some of her other plans for education include introducing a bill that would create a mentorship program for teachers and principals.