State Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Albuquerque) and other GOP leaders are speaking out after a Republican-sponsored bill in the New Mexico House of Representatives targeting retail theft was recently blocked by House Democrats, while a similar bill remains alive.
Two competing bills were heard by a committee earlier this month. House Bill 55 was sponsored by Republicans and blocked, while the Democrat-backed House Bill 234 advanced to the next committee, KRQE News reported.
“The people of Albuquerque should be outraged at what is going on in Santa Fe; these progressives simply do not care about crime in our city,” Rehm said on the New Mexico House GOP's website.
According to KRQE News, the main difference between the two bills was that H.B. 234 went more in-depth on organized retail crime, defined what it is and allowed anyone involved in the chain of organized retail crime to face prosecution. On the other hand, H.B. 55 focused on harsher charges for people faced with multiple counts of retail theft.
“There is tremendous public desire to address the root causes of this crime epidemic,” House Republican Leader Ryan Lane (R-Aztec) said, according to the New Mexico House GOP website. “Retail crime is one of the main ways that career criminals fund their ongoing criminal activities. The people of New Mexico want action that results in real change. Rep. Rehm’s retail crime bill was one such effort, and unfortunately that effort was defeated today for political reasons.”
On the New Mexico House GOP website, House Republicans noted that there were a record-breaking 171 murders in Albuquerque in 2022, and that the Democratic leadership isn’t doing enough to stymie crime.
House Democrats stated on their own website that H.B. 234 had support from high-ranking state officials, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, the Albuquerque Police Department and the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce.
A recent poll released by the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce revealed 75% of New Mexicans were unsatisfied with public safety and crime in New Mexico. It also stated that 40% of New Mexicans have witnessed shoplifting within the last year.
