ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham delivered the 2025 State of the State address to kick off the 60-day legislative session at the Roundhouse Tuesday.

Lujan Grisham said public safety and child well-being need our action now, and that seems to be where she expects lawmakers to get the most work done over the next 60 days.

She also covered education, child care, the Children Youth and Families Department, the economy, environmental concerns, housing and homelessness, crime and health care with a final double down on public safety. 

EDUCATION

New Mexico consistently struggled in the education department for generations. But the governor shared some encouraging statistics. She celebrated the Legislature’s previous investments in education, including the $30 million lawmakers spent on a summer reading bootcamp last year.

She says students involved in that program saw an 11% increase in reading skills, and she wants even more money to do that again.

This year, she’s zeroing in on universal free childcare. She says 30,000 New Mexican children already benefit from the state-funded program, and she’s asking for another $205 million to make free childcare available for every New Mexico family.

“Let’s become the first state in America to give every child the start they deserve with universal access to high quality child care today and for the future, set the standard for America New Mexico,” said Lujan Grisham.  

The governor is also doubling down on a 180-day school calendar initiative that faced a lot of backlash in 2024 and is likely going to face even more this year.

CYFD

The governor spent a lot of time laying out her expectations for the notoriously troubled CYFD, but also made some substantial proposals, starting with a significant pitch to help foster families. She wants to exclude them from personal income tax, and she wants to increase their monthly stipends by up to $900, per child. But she also wants more oversight at CYFD. 

First, she’s proposing an independent outside expert to evaluate the department’s performance and report those findings to her and the Legislature every six months.

She believes these regular reviews will help them make real-time adjustments. 

But what about the challenge of abused children falling through the cracks? The governor has a proposal to tackle that obstacle as well. 

“I’m also calling for a new independent Child Protection Authority, jointly appointed by the Legislature and the executive, that will ensure CYFD adequately resolves all complaints from families and parents. Another indicator about what’s happening or not happening.”

CARA PROGRAM

The CARA program is designed to help mothers with substance abuse and their babies, 4 Investigates exposed the overwhelming inadequacies in the program. 

The governor spent a good amount of time Tuesday focusing on CARA and the changes she wants lawmakers to tackle this session.

Changes advocates have been pushing for for several years now. The first being to move the CARA program to the Department of Health. This program is extremely complicated, involving several state agencies. 

What happens now is when a mother gives birth to a substance exposed baby, the hospital is supposed to create a plan of care. 

It’s supposed to be a safety net for those children, but what we discovered is it’ created massive gaps.

Those agencies were back and forth with which one was supposed to be following up with the families, and making sure they get the help they need.

Many families fell off the radar. Ultimately, we found dozens of children have died since its implementation.

“The truth is too many families did not adhere to the spirit of that program, that’s why I believe it’s time to make these interventions mandatory for these families,” said Lujan Grisham. 

While advocates are excited about the attention to this program, legal experts told us they see some concerns already with mandating plans of care without legal intervention from the state.

But we’re still waiting to see how these CARA-related bills get filed. 

The intent of the original bill was to ensure families are getting help. Without that, we’ve seen moms get arrested for the deaths of their babies, and some who are facing prison time.

JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM

There was not a single mention of juvenile justice reform, which is interesting because lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they are ready to crack open the Children’s Code and make some changes.