House Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, presented two bills last month as part of a crime package in the state House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee, according to a press release issued by the House GOP.
Rehm presented House Bills 113 and 114 to the committee and the committee passed the bills by a 4-1 vote, according to the press release. The bills will now go to the House Judiciary Committee.
Rehm said the governor supports addressing crime.
“Crime has been an issue for a long time in our state and I am glad that our legislature, with Gov. Lujan Grisham’s support, is finally taking steps to address the problems,” Rehm said in the press release. “These two bills will make it a lot tougher to be a criminal in New Mexico. I have been working on some of these issues for quite a while and look forward to them being heard in the Judiciary committee.”
Rehm said in the press release that he'd been focused on crime issues for a long time.
House Bill 113 deals with increasing penalties for felons who possess firearms. It makes it unlawful for felons, those convicted of specific crimes and persons subject to orders of protection to receive, transport or possess firearms, according to the bill's text.
House Bill 114 would make it a crime to carry a firearm while trafficking a controlled substance. It makes it so that those who commit unlawful carrying of a firearm while trafficking a controlled substance will be guilty of a third-degree felony, according to the bill's text.
The bills are part of a larger crime package that Lujan Grisham supports. The governor wanted the crime package to be heard during the legislative session.
If passed, the bills will go into effect on July 1, according to the bills.
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