With the state’s legislative session set to start in about two months, the Albuquerque City Council is preparing its priorities for state lawmakers and is expected to discuss what will make the cut during Monday’s meeting.
Councilors discussed the resolution for the council’s legislative agenda during the Nov. 4 meeting but deferred it for further review.
Among the council’s list of around 20 proposed legislative priorities focusing on public safety, behavioral health and homelessness, are requests for stricter penalties for certain criminal offenses, rent stabilization programs and low-income utility rates assistance. One priority calls for behavioral health and addiction services to be an “alternative to jail for some non-violent offenders.”
Councilor Brook Bassan, a cosponsor of the resolution, said she hopes councilors can work together Monday night to simplify the lengthy list.
“The legislators have a lot to do, and so for us to sit there and tell them, ‘Go ahead and read this endless list of dreams,’ seems to me a little tedious, so I think that we’re trying to change that up a little bit,” Bassan said. “I think we also agree that we don’t want to get in the way of other councilors if they would like all of that on there.”