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A hearing for House Bill 134 , also known as the "Delinquency Act,' was held at the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee (CPAC) on Thursday, March 6, 2025, but it died in committee on a 4 to 2 vote. The proposal was aimed at tackling juvenile crime in New Mexico. The bipartisan proposal is sponsored by Republican state Reps. Andrea Reeb and Nicole Chavez. It's also sponsored by Democrat state representatives Art De La Cruz and Cynthia Borrego.

If it passed, it would have amended the "Delinquency Act," expand definitions for "serious youthful offender" and "youthful offender," providing for transport of a serious youthful offender to a district court when ordered and the offender to be segregated from adults and so forth.

On Friday, March 7, 2025, KOAT spoke to Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who is in support of the bill and has urged changes to the state's children code , Republican state representatives Andrea Reeb and Nicole Chavez. The proposal was stuck in committee for weeks. During Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's signing of House Bill 8 , KOAT asked Lujan Grisham about that concern on Thursday, Feb. 27. Lujan Grisham has also expressed support for the bill.

Full transcript is below.

"I'm disappointed, frustrated. I pre-filed this bill before the session even started. I wanted to give it the biggest chance to get across the finish line. I was assigned to CPAC, which we generally know is the kill committee and I did my first presentation. They had a lot of concerns. I edited the bill and then I just could not seem to get the bill heard," Reeb told KOAT. "

"I was pretty much told by the chair it wasn't going to be heard. Then, I finally, for some unknown reason, I ended up getting the bill scheduled yesterday. So, that was the first time we actually had been able to present the bill with our changes and all the stakeholders that we brought into it," Reeb said.

"Crime, juvenile violent offenders in New Mexico are really what I feel is the biggest problem we're facing right now with crime. So, what this did was just literally deal with two parts. It took what we call serious youthful offenders. And it added— we're used to be just first-degree murder. We had a second-degree murder. Armed robbery. Shooting at or from a motor vehicle. Causing great bodily harm. Involuntary manslaughter. And we lowered the age from 15 to 14 because, as you know, we're having way younger offenders that are shooting and killing people," Reeb added.

"This is my journey for ten years now. We have been asking to address juvenile crime and hold the most violent juveniles accountable. New Mexicans are saying that we are at a crisis and it's time to take action," Chavez said. "The fact that it sounded like all the committee members were doing was making excuses for the juvenile's violent actions and coddling the criminals instead of holding them accountable and forgetting about the victims across the state that are losing their children and their loved ones to violent crime was disheartening."

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman stated his office will continue to do "everything possible" to hold juveniles accountable. He expressed disappointment after Thursday's decision.

"I would have liked to have seen some laws being changed, but it is what it is. We're going to keep grinding, but it is certainly very disappointing. I'm very disappointed that we can't seem to update our children's code to match the times that we live in when it comes to Albuquerque, in the state of New Mexico. I would have liked to have seen some laws being changed, but it is what it is. We're going to keep grinding, but it is certainly very disappointing," Bregman told KOAT.

"Unfortunately, they got hung up on one. 'So, we don't want to punish kids.' Well, certain kids, when they murder, should be punished and should be kept away from the community. But at the end of the day, we can do both. We can give them behavioral health treatment and also consequences," Bregman added.

Children's Code/Youth Detention Center Concerns

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Let's do the juvenile crime. And I'm going to ask District Attorney Bregman. That's House Bill 134. I think we need this bill. All of us have been working collectively, but each of us in a specific area of expertise. We have a juvenile crime problem in this state.

I would also submit that the evidence pretty clearly shows that felons in possession help get firearms to juveniles, because they tell them nothing's going to happen to you. In large part, that's true. It's only that we have an arrangement with a cooperative that started in a public health order to do detainment of seriously violent kids. These are kids who have murdered people, and they are kids who say in court, I will do it again. So, they cannot be in school. Kids at school are saying to the DA and to me, I'm afraid to go to school. They know who has guns.

Just last week, four different schools, four guns. Every single day. Every single day. This is happening nearly at least three to four days a week. So, that's that's 90 percent of the school days. 90% of the school days. We're pulling a gun. Backpack. Car, Locker. I don't even know how they're getting them in there. But they are, Telegram. They're selling them. They're soliciting. They're being solicited. We have not made these changes. And again, I keep saying it publicly. There are over course corrections where we didn't do any prevention.

So then, and this is their job, they move there. They do a good job, but not with the other piece. And then we start to build that and we get a crime problem. And then we move over there and we stop. This is why this day is so important. We did both at the same time. Juvenile justice needs a lot of work, and I really hope this gets a fair set of hearings and debates. When kids in New Mexico beg you to do something with their parents about juvenile justice. When I get a message that I have no more places to hold dangerous kids who are a danger to themselves and others, we got real problems. So, I really hope that happens.

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