NMGOP urges legislative committee to take up medical malpractice, 'baby boxes,' during interim

Republican New Mexico senators are calling on the Democratic chairwoman of a legislative health committee to place some of Republicans' top issues on interim meeting agendas over the coming months.

Four GOP state senators sent a letter recently to state Rep. Liz Thomson (D-Albuquerque) asking her to allow the interim Health and Human Services Committee to hear legislative proposals regarding medical malpractice reform, "baby boxes" for abandoned infants, interstate medical licensure compacts, rural health care delivery and ongoing struggles at the state Children, Youth and Families Department.

Republicans and Democrats from both chambers sit on the committee, which meets roughly every month between May and November. Members will finalize the committee's work plan for those meetings next month.

While the committees generally do not vote or formally endorse legislation ahead of each year's legislative session, topics committee members discuss usually end up in legislation in some form. The committee had multiple medical malpractice hearings in 2025, for example, ahead of the Legislature's successful adoption of House Bill 99, a medical malpractice reform bill that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law.

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"Enacting medical malpractice reform was a huge first step," Sen. Rex Wilson (R-Ancho), a committee member, said in a statement on Monday. "But we still have work to do to improve healthcare access, especially in our rural communities."

Thomson told Source New Mexico on Monday that she hadn't seen the letter from the Republican lawmakers. But she weighed in on each of the topics Republicans want on the committee agenda.

Regarding medical malpractice reform, the Republicans are asking the Legislature to change state law to allow findings of the state's medical review board to be considered as admissible evidence in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Thomson said she thought that proposal was a bit too "legal" in nature for the committee, which does not have many lawyers as members. However, she said the committee will likely consider additional medical malpractice reforms and has also agreed to conduct a joint hearing later this year with the legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee focused primarily on building on House Bill 99.

Thomson also nixed a request to take up a bill that would ensure parents who abandon their infants at designated "safe haven baby boxes" could remain anonymous, which she said falls outside of her committee's purview.

"It's not something I feel qualified to try to determine, and I'm willing to listen," she said. "We have so many priorities. I'll just say that wouldn't be one of my top priorities."

However, Thomson said she agreed with including the Republicans' three other priorities for discussion: interstate medical compacts, which Thomson has sponsored at the Legislature; the extent to which the state is pursuing federal funding for rural health care; and CYFD's ongoing problems.

"Every year we have had the CYFD secretary come in front of us, and it hasn't always been real enlightening, shall I say," Thomson said. "Still, I can't imagine we wouldn't have CYFD in front of us."

Courtesy of Source New Mexico