The First Session of the 58th Legislature

January 4-15, 2027: Legislation may be prefiled
January 19: Opening day (noon)
February 18: Deadline for introduction
March 20: Session ends (noon)
April 9: Legislation not acted upon by governor is pocket vetoed*
June 18: Effective date of legislation not a general appropriation bill or a bill carrying an emergency clause or other specified date
*Dependent on 2026 Constitutional Amendment outcome

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Bill tweaks hate crime laws to protect the homeless (KRQE)

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Bill tweaks hate crime laws to protect the homeless

By Cole MillerPublished:   Updated: 

SANTA FE (KRQE) – When police arrested a trio of teens they say beat two homeless men to death for fun last summer, it set the wheels in motion for a state lawmaker. He couldn’t believe it wasn’t a hate crime. He’s working on changing that now.

As it stands, New Mexico’s hate crime statute covers race, religion, age, disability, gender and sexual orientation. Sen. Bill O’Neill has introduced a bill that would add homelessness to that list.

“Folks are being routinely assaulted and targeted and killed,” the Democrat from Albuquerque said Thursday. “That’s not OK.”

The homeless population would be defined as anyone “who lacks a fixed, adequate and regular night time residence,” applying to people who live in a car, park, abandoned building or on the streets.

Read more here: http://krqe.com/2015/02/05/bill-tweaks-hate-crime-laws-to-protect-the-homeless/