The 2026 legislative session begins on January 20! 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. We are advocating for legislation that would rebalance New Mexico’s medical malpractice system to protect both patients and doctors. Details about the bill coming soon. Read more about this reform and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

• Join 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 TBD), psychologists (House Bill 33), counselors (House Bill 32), emergency medical personnel (House Bill 31), dentists and dental hygienists (House Bill 44), physician assistants (House Bill 45), audiologists and speech pathologists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. 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 and email your legislators and the governor to urge them to pass it!

• Add funding to the Medicaid Permanent Fund. In 2025, Think New Mexico successfully advocated for the creation of a new permanent trust fund for Medicaid. This year we are supporting efforts appropriate more money 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 pass it!

• Repeal the Gross Receipts Tax on coinsurance payments. We are advocating for legislation that 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. We are advocating for House Bill 66 to make New Mexico’s student loan repayment program the best in the nation. The bill would increase the maximum amount that doctors are eligible for from $75,000 over three years to $300,000 over four years. It would also appropriate $25 million for loan repayment, with 50% earmarked for doctors and 50% for other health care workers. 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. Details about this legislation coming soon. 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.