Since the last day of the 2022 session, Retake has been working with allies to develop plans for the 2023 session and to use the interim hearings and individual conversations with legislators to advance bills we have supported and continue to support. This is the page to go to for updates and ultimately links to summaries for bills. If there is no link for an issue below, it is because we are still working on the issue page. We are several months from the session and many partners are still finalizing bill language and messaging, so we won’t be creating summaries until that work is done. But know we are working directly with leadership advancing each of these initiatives.

While the list certainly could be adjusted, there are 8 issue areas that will spawn likely 10-12 bills, so that will be more than enough. Recall, we’ve pledged to scale back on the number of bills to allow greater focus.

The issues with bills coming that we know we are supporting or opposing are listed below:

• Local Public Power. The team that has been meeting to formulate a legislative strategy includes New Energy Economy, Earth Care, Renewable Taos, Indivisible ABQ, Retake Our Democracy, Indigenous Lifeways, and the State Land Office. The focus of the work has been determining the precise nature of the bill(s) to be introduced and the messaging with the legislature.
• State Public Bank. Retake has bee working with the folks at Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity, the leaders on this. We take our cues from them, but have been working with them on a Zoominar to compliment the excellent video they’ve produced.
• Modernizing the Legislature. We’ve done a Zoominar with those pushing this forward, largely women Dems in the House. There will likely be two, even three bills introduced, one calling for an amendment to the Constitution to allow legislators to be salaried and another seeking funds to pay salaries for legislative aides to help legislators independently conduct or verify research and to support sustained legislator-constituent dialog.
• Green Amendment. The language for this amendment has been changed slightly. We are working with Maya van Rossum, head of Green Amendment for the Generations to get a handle on the changed language and campaign messaging.
• Health Security. We’ve been woking with Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign on this issue since the 2017 session. This year we will be introducing legislation to create an Expert Committee to continue the Health Security Plan design process and to add funding to support that critical work. Retake conducted a Zoominar with health security leadership last month and we continue to collaborte on messaging and strategy.
• Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot Projects. We’ve been working with the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI) initiative, a national coalition of over 80 mayors sponsoring GBI pilots, one pilot being in Santa Fe. We’ve also been communicating with Appleseed NM, who has launched four GBI pilots targeting homeless students. The exact kind of legislation to be introduced is being debated, but likely creating a state office to work with communiy GBI pilots, supporting the design process and evaluation of new pilots.
• Tax policy. Here we will be working with NM Voices for Children, no doubt opposing efforts to cut taxes while likely advancing plans to expand or increase low-income child tax credits and make our personal income tax more progressive.
• Opposing Hydrogen. Pick your color, we oppose.

2022 Legislative Session

2022 Bills We Support/Oppose. For a quick overview of wins and losses, please read our Feb. 22, 2022 Alert at this link.

House & Senate Committee Rosters. Current contact info for the 2022 Session.

Links to 2022 Legislative Alerts, in case you can’t find one.

Recordings of 2022 Retake Legislative Huddles

Get Legislative Action Alerts. Sign up to get Action Alerts during the 2022 Legislative Session.

Sign up for other advocacy roles, including Constituent Zoom Conversations with your legislators.

Our overall Legislative Strategy & criteria we use to identify bills to support.

How to Advocate from Your Couch. All the rules and how to navigate them.

2021 Legislative Session

• 2021 Legislative Alerts Links to all Legislative Alerts for the 2021 session, most recent first.
• Status Check on All 45 Bills. Updated March 15, end of session..
• 2021 Legislation We Support. A list of the Transformational Bills we tracked and advocated for, in addition to Priority Bills we supported .
• 2021 Hearing Observers sign up at this link. If you’re already signed up, get the online Hearing Observation Form here.
• Committee Secretary Contact Information. To submit documents for distribution at hearings, you must send them to the secretary 24 hours in advance.
• 2021 Legislative Priorities Survey Results. Results of more than 1,100 responses to our 2021 Legislative Priorities Survey.
• Sign Up to Get Legislative Action Alerts. You’ll get email alerts when one of our bills is scheduled for a committee hearing or for a House or Senate floor vote, including links to speaking points and legislator contact info.
• 2021 Legislative Strategy A description of our 2021 Legislative Strategy outlining how you can effectively advocate during the 2021 session.
• 2021 Legislative Advocacy Toolkit. An array of resources and tools to sharpen your personal advocacy, a very useful resource.
• Create a Senate District Advocacy Team. A description of a new Retake strategy, Constituent-Senator Conversations, outlining how you can coordinate a team in you State Senate District.
• Join a Senate District Advocacy Team. The role of a Senate District Advocacy Team member, a very light load. The Advocacy Network meets by Zoom on Fridays, 3:30-4:30, to swap stories and learn new strategies.
• Constituent Zoom Meetings with Senators. The page houses a schedule of Constituent-Senator Zoom Conversations, as well as recordings of some of the Conversations that have been conducted.
• Our 2019 Legislative Report Card. The 2019 Report Card examined how good bills die, most often not by a vote that is public, but rather by Committee Chairs who simply refuse to call bills for hearings, letting them die without a vote. The Report Card focused on a handful of Senators we called Democrats in Name Only, most all of whom were voted out of office in the primaries. The Report Card is an excellent tool for developing your understanding of how the legislature really works.