Gov. Lujan Grisham again under fire from Dems — this time about alcohol
Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is once again under fire by leftists. Previously, they were angered over her veto of an electric vehicle tax credit in the omnibus tax package passed during the 2023 Legislative Session.
This time, however, they are angered that she vetoed an increased tax on alcohol that would have increased the alcohol tax rate by a massive 20 percent, with proceeds going to “harms reduction” programs.
She is now under fire from her own party over the tax hike veto.
State Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque) attacked the governor’s veto as “a serious misstep,” according to a report from New Mexico InDepth.
“We’ll have to try again,” he added, “but it sure would have helped if the Governor’s staff had reached out to explain what was behind her decision,” he added.

“Neal Bowen, who since 2019 has directed the Behavioral Health Services Division, which oversees much of the state’s treatment and prevention services, called the outcome a ‘missed opportunity.’ Even that ‘trivial alcohol tax hike,’ Bowen wrote in an email to New Mexico In Depth, would have put the state in ‘a position to support an expansion of screening, treatment, and recovery services specific to alcohol,’” the outlet reported.
“I would expect an increase in alcohol excise tax would be welcome in light of the harm to the communities and cost to the state due to alcohol,” state Sen. Sedillo Lopez (D-Bernalillo) told The Santa Fe New Mexican.
In response to criticism of the veto, InDepth reported that the governor’s spokesperson Maddy Hayden claims Lujan Grisham “‘believes unequivocally’ that New Mexico needs to devote more resources to addressing alcohol misuse, according to Hayden. The governor felt the Legislature’s tax package represented ‘a potentially untenable hit to the general fund’ and vetoed the reallocation of alcohol tax revenues ‘out of fiscal responsibility,’ Hayden said, declining to clarify why the governor didn’t then retain the alcohol tax hike, which would have generated $10 million annually.”
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