The 2026 legislative session is now underway! Here are brief summaries of the bills we are working on, with links to our Action Center so you can easily contact your legislators and the governor about any of them. Please check back often, as we will continue to add bills to this list as they are introduced.

Health Care Legislation

• Reform the medical malpractice system to center patient needs and safety: House Bill 99. We are supporting House Bill 99, which would bring New Mexico’s medical malpractice system more in line with those in other states like Colorado. Read more about this reform, check out the growing coalition of organizations that support it, and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

• Join ALL the major interstate health care worker compacts New Mexico does not yet participate in. We are advocating for bills that would bring New Mexico into the interstate compacts for physicians (Senate Bill 1), psychologists (House Bill 33), counselors (House Bill 32), emergency medical personnel (House Bill 31), dentists and dental hygienists (House Bill 14), physician assistants (House Bill 10), audiologists and speech pathologists (House Bill 11), physical therapists (House Bill 12), and occupational therapists (House Bill 13). These bills would make it easier for health care providers licensed in other states to care for New Mexico patients, including via telehealth. Read more about this reform, check out the growing coalition of organizations that support it, and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

• Add funding to the Medicaid Permanent Fund: Senate Bill 9. In 2025, Think New Mexico successfully advocated for the creation of a new permanent trust fund for Medicaid. This year we are supporting Senate Bill 9, which proposes to add $1 billion to the fund so that it will reach its $2 billion goal as quickly as possible. Once it reaches this goal, it will pay out $100 million a year that will be matched 3:1 with federal dollars, generating $400 million for Medicaid services in New Mexico. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to support it!

• Repeal the Gross Receipts Tax on coinsurance payments: Senate Bill 13. We are advocating for Senate Bill 13, which would repeal the GRT on coinsurance payments for medical services. New Mexico is now the only state that imposes this tax, and in many cases doctors are not able to pass the cost along to patients, so they end up paying it out of their own pockets. This makes it more expensive to practice medicine in New Mexico. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

• Enhance the student loan repayment program for health care workers: House Bill 66 and Senate Bills 14 and 11. House Bill 66 and Senate Bills 14 and 11 would make New Mexico’s student loan repayment program for health care workers among the most generous in the nation. The bills would increase the maximum amount that doctors are eligible for from $75,000 over three years to $300,000 over four years. They would also increase the funding available for this program from $15 million to $25 million annually. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

• Provide a tax credit for health care preceptors: House Bill 90 & Senate Bill 10. Preceptors are the practicing doctors and other health care professionals who provide community-based clinical education for doctors, nurses, and others. This an essential part of the training process for health care professionals. However, most preceptors in New Mexico are unpaid. House Bill 90 and Senate Bill 10 each propose to establish a new tax credit for preceptors. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

Education Reform Legislation

• Maximize the amount of education funding that is spent in the classroom rather than on administrative costs: Senate Bill 178. Senate Bill 178 would require that school districts enrolling more than 2,000 students must spend at least 90% of the funding that a school generates at that school. The bill also requires that districts and charters develop evidence-based spending plans detailing how they will use state funding to provide culturally and linguistically relevant education that improves outcomes for at-risk students. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor about it!

• Increase stipends for teacher residencies: House Bill 30. House Bill 30 would increase the stipend that residents receive by about $9,000 and indexing it to Level I teacher pay, making it more financially feasible for teachers to complete residencies. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor about it!

Other Legislation

• Support Funding for the Strategic Water Reserve. The Strategic Water Reserve is an innovative water management tool that Think New Mexico proposed and won passage of in 2005. It allows the state to buy and lease water rights to help keep our rivers flowing to meet the needs of endangered species and the state’s water delivery obligations under interstate compacts. Last year Think New Mexico partnered with a coalition to create a fund for the Strategic Water Reserve. This year we are supporting efforts to fill that fund with up to $15.5 million, as recommended by the Legislative Finance Committee. Read more about this reform.