SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico’s state lawmakers had 60 days to propose and debate bills to make our state better.

Among the bills they did pass, they also approved one making the tortilla the official state bread. If you’re wondering why lawmakers spent their limited time debating a bill like that, so is Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

She vetoed that bill Friday, along with more than a dozen others, and she sent lawmakers a pretty strong message.

Friday was the deadline for Lujan Grisham to sign or veto bills approved by state lawmakers, and that means we finally know how effective this year’s legislative session was.

State lawmakers introduced 1,182 total bills over the course of the 60-day legislative session. Only 195 of those bills made it up to the governor’s desk, and she signed 160 of them into law. That’s only 13% of all the bills introduced, and that’s a step-down from the last 60-day session when 19% of bills became law.

The governor directly vetoed 18 bills this year, including proposals expanding income tax credits to low-income New Mexicans, creating a new state park in southern New Mexico, expanding reporting requirements for lobbyists and the tortilla bill.

In her veto message, the governor said, “In a time of extraordinary challenges, New Mexicans need discipline and urgency from their elected officials. What they received this session was far too often the opposite.”

She criticized lawmakers for running out of time to get to certain bills, adding “In the final hours of the session, and in the wake of a mass shooting in Las Cruces that went unacknowledged by House leadership, the House found time to debate the merits of a state bread.”

The governor provided an explanation for all of those vetoed bills, but she does not have to. It looks like she won’t for the 12 other bills sitting on her desk that will simply die without her signature. That’s called a pocket veto, and New Mexico voters will get to decide if the next governor is still allowed to do that moving forward.

Lawmakers unanimously approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would require the governor to provide an explanation for every vetoed bill, or it becomes law.

“It is an issue for our democracy. It’s a misalignment between the branches of government. So we, as an organization, don’t see a need for pocket vetoes, we want to see that clarity and that transparency from our government and our executive branches,” said Molly Swank, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. 

New Mexico voters will be asked to make a decision on that during the 2026 general election, the same time they’ll be asked to pick a new governor.