2023: More Money, More Lawmaking...More Solutions?

Starting today (Jan. 17, 2023) - New Mexico's elected representatives are back in the Capitol for another legislative session. This time they're in for 60 days of lawmaking at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, and once again, the agenda seems packed.

This week, Chris and Gabby are diving into the 2023 session. The state's continued record oil revenues are expected to fuel a lot of debate on what could be a spending spree for the state. Could it pay for another round of potential tax rebates? New crime fighting initiatives? Raises for state employee and educators? Those topics and more are on the docket on this year.

KRQE News 13's Digital Investigative Data Reporter Curtis Segarra returns to the podcast this week with a breakdown of four topics. We'll highlight how much money the state has, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's spending ideas, Albuquerque city officials spending wish list and a slew of pre-filed bills lawmakers are considering.

You can follow along this session on KRQE.com/legislature. Also, look for links to Curtis’ daily "Roundhouse Roundup" politics posts on his KRQE.com bio page. We also mentioned more coverage of one specific story in this episode. Here's a link to Curtis' piece on the longstanding proposal of paying New Mexico lawmakers a salary.

**A special note: On Monday night, Albuquerque Police arrested a lead suspect in the case of shootings at the homes of several Albuquerque elected officials. A former House candidate, Solomon Peña was arrested at a condominium complex in downtown Albuquerque. Here is a link to the story with more details on KRQE.com. We talked about the case in this week's episode before we knew of Peña's arrest, so some of the details we discussed midway through the show have since changed.

We want to hear from you! Contact us at chris.mckee@krqe.com or gabrielle.burkhart@krqe.com with story ideas or feedback. Also, find us on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at @ChrisMcKeeTV and @gburkNM. For more on this episode and all of our prior episodes, visit our podcast website, KRQE.com/podcasts.