New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham spoke to the citizens of “the Land of Enchantment” for about 25 minutes on Tuesday, January 18. The day marked the opening of the 2022 session of the New Mexico legislature, and highlighting this opening was the governor’s presentation of her fourth “State of the State” address. 

Delivering her speech remotely as a result of the current coronavirus outbreak while hoping that her remarks would be supported by all New Mexicans, Gov. Lujan Grisham said, “I believe that the values we share as New Mexicans still truly unite us: The desire to see our families grow and thrive, the willingness to work hard to enjoy what we earn, the optimism that tomorrow can and will be better than today, for ourselves and for our neighbors.” 

Next the governor spoke of accomplishments that she and the legislature have made during the past three years — raising the minimum wage, guaranteeing paid sick leave to all workers and investing millions of dollars to improve early childhood education. 

Gov. Lujan Grisham then cast her thoughts to the future. She affirmed that New Mexico is on “the precipice of momentous positive change”, noting that the state right now has “unimaginable financial resources at our disposal.” Continuing her positive evaluation of the “State of the State” Gov. Lujan Grisham said, “Big and meaningful changes are possible, but the biggest change may be our attitude, our perspective.”

The first big change Gov. Lujan Grisham suggested is giving “every single educator in this state a 7% raise this year, minimum. That would be the biggest pay bump in recent memory, and it would put us first in the region for average educator pay,” she said. “They deserve it, and we can afford it, and it’s the right thing to do.” The governor also advocated raising teachers’ starting salaries. “This kind of progress pays for itself,” she said. 

Cutting taxes for every New Mexican was Gov. Lujan Grisham’s next talking point. Noting that sales tax has done nothing but go up over the past 40 years, the governor stated that her tax cut proposal would save New Mexicans $170 million annually. Supporting Republicans she said, “As my colleagues from across the aisle have pointed out in years past, correctly, that money doesn’t belong in government accounts; it belongs in the pockets of hard-working New Mexicans.” 

Expanding her desire to cut taxes, Gov. Lujan Grisham asked for the end of taxes on Social Security benefits and the expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit program. 

The governor emphasized her commitment to help families in need. Some of the families the governor is talking about are residents of Lea County. Gov. Lujan Grisham said, “In the next 12 months your state government is going to deliver an additional $230 million in rent and utility assistance to the New Mexicans who need it most. Your state government will continue to help keep the heat on in hundreds of thousands of households across our state. We will not leave families behind.”

Next, Gov. Lujan Grisham remarked that New Mexico ranks 11th in the nation for job growth. She said, “In three years, we have created over ten thousand jobs in every corner of our state; and those jobs now have an average salary better than $90,000 a year: That’s a record high….” The governor also noted that unemployment in the state has gone down for the past 10 months running.

With all of the positive things happening in New Mexico, Gov Lujan Grisham didn’t push the state’s crime problem under the rug. “I don’t accept the argument that this is an issue in only one part of our state,” she said. 

She then advocated “tougher penalties for the worst of the worst”, “repeat offenders” and “those who have proven themselves to be a danger to our communities”. To achieve her goals the governor is asking for a 19% increase in the Department of Public Safety budget. 

Lacking from the governor’s address was the mention of the January 7 incident in Hobbs that is attaining national and maybe even worldwide attention — a teen mom not knowing what to do with her unwanted newborn. 

What happened in Hobbs cries for better education and awareness about alternatives that are available for unwanted newborns. The state has a “Safe Haven” law in place. Bringing this legislation to the attention of all New Mexicans and providing more funding to communities statewide to expand their individual programs is certainly timely and warranted. Though this story made national news and brought to light a discussion on relevant laws, Gov. Lujan Grisham made no mention of the tragedy.

The full text of the speech is available on the governor’s website and the video can be watched on C-SPAN.