By The Numbers

The big news from this session is the huge leap in legislators who earned a 100% pro-conservation score: 32 House members and 16 Senators representing 43% of all legislators. This is unprecedented and shows the results of a concerted effort by CVNM and its allies, beginning with the 2018 election cycle, to build a pro-conservation legislature whose members reflect conservation values across the state’s diverse communities.

However, the average pro-conservation score has held steady in a narrow range even with the sharp rise in 100% scores. This is the result of the growing polarization in the New Mexico legislature, mirroring what has been happening across the country. Democrats have averaged pro-conservation scores in the high 80s and low 90s since 2015/16 in the House and 2017/2018 in the Senate. Starting in the middle of the Governor Martinez administration, the average House Republican pro-conservation score plummeted into the low teens and has continued that way (with one exception) for a decade, dropping from 40% in 2005/6 to 15% the last four years. On the Senate side, there was actually a steady increase in pro-conservation voting in the latter part of the Martinez administration, but that collapsed and Senate Republicans are near their all-time low in supporting conservation.

This polarization on conservation and climate action comes in the face of annual polls going back many years that consistently show an overwhelming majority of New Mexicans want increased support for conservation and public lands access, and majority support for climate-related legislation. The bipartisan vote in 2023 for SB 9 laid the foundation for sustainable long-term funding for a wide range of conservation and restoration programs at six state agencies is a bright spot in an otherwise dismal and unnecessarily partisan environment given the values everyday New Mexicans want their legislators to defend and promote.