Roosevelt County Chamber’s
Legislative Report
Jan. 15, 2025

New Leadership Locally Headed to 60-day Session
With the 60-day, 2025 Legislative Session set to begin Tuesday our area delegation will feature one new face. Long-time local rancher Pat Boone will take the Dist.27 seat as a freshman but is far from inexperienced with how things work at the Roundhouse. He spent years in Santa Fe advocating for New Mexico Cattlegrowers Assn. and other organizations. He defeated long-time Chaves County State Rep Greg Nibert in the June Republican Primary to win the seat. Nibert had left his seat in the House last year after being appointed to the Dist. 27 Senate seat by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Long-serving Republican Stuart Ingle of Portales retired prior to the 30-day session last year.

Area Delegation Getting Ready For Session

The eastern New Mexico legislative delegation met with citizens and representatives of local government last week to discuss the upcoming 60-day session of the New Mexico Legislature.
The pre-session event is the first one held in recent years and over 60 attended.
Much of the event was mix and mingle over coffee and donuts. The program portion of the morning gave each legislator an opportunity to speak. In attendance were District 64 Representative Andrea Reeb, District 63 Representative Martin Zamora, District 7 Senator Pat Woods and newly elected District 27 Senator Pat Boone.
Zamora said he remembered similar events in his first year of office in 2019 and how scared he had been. He said he’s overcome his stage fright and become familiar with communicating with crowds and one-on-one with constituents and other legislators. He invited folks to contact him with input and needs.
Reeb joked that with the addition of Boone she was just thankful she was no longer the freshman legislator. Former 9thJudicial District Attorney Reeb said she felt like this session would take a hard focus on crime and she was looking forward to once again serving on the House Judiciary Committee where crime legislation will be funneled and sifted. Reeb said she has 15 bills prepared for the session, mostly dealing with crime. Among those bills would be one to enhance sentencing for those committing crimes against law enforcement.

While Woods’ district doesn’t include portions of Roosevelt County, he is a part of a five-legislator coalition on the eastern border. He has risen quickly in committee stature since starting in 2012 to include a standing committee post on Legislative Finance and interim slots on Legislative Finance Committee. Woods shared that with rapidly rising budgets over the last several sessions most people had assumed revenue derived from oil and gas would slow. He said that early reporting shows that it is likely that an additional $900,000 would be available this year.

Governor and LFC Release Budgets
The Legislative Finance Committee today released a proposed 2026 budget of $10.8 million, which would be a 5.7% increase over this year.The proposal maintains reserves at 33% and would incur $3 billion in non-recurring appropriations. The Governor had previously released a $10.9 billion plan.Both would be a record budget. While the two are much closer together on the total than they have been in recent history, one of the biggest differences is in state pay raises. Lujan Grisham is suggesting a 3% raise while the LFC version advocates for a 4% increase. One thing that is always certain no matter what these budget numbers show, especially in a 60-day session — the road is always long and winding. Stay tuned.
Clovis/Portales Legislative Appreciation Set for Feb. 10
The Roosevelt County Chamber along with the Clovis/Curry County Chamber will hold the annual Legislative Appreciation in Santa Fe Monday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. at The Hotel Santa Fe. Tickets are available by contacting the Clovis/Curry County Chamber at (575) 762-3435.