Editor’s note: This is a series profiling our local state legislators, their priorities and issues impacting our Sandoval County throughout the 60-day Legislative Session.
By Jesse Jones
Rep. Christine Chandler, a second-term Democrat from Los Alamos, represents House District 43, which includes all of Los Alamos County and parts of Sandoval and Santa Fe counties, covering Los Alamos, Jemez Springs, areas of the Jemez Pueblo, Pena Blanca and parts of Santa Fe.
With the 2025 legislative session in full swing, Chandler is focused on strengthening public safety, supporting businesses and protecting New Mexican families. Her top priorities include expanding paid family and medical leave, tightening public safety laws and regulating artificial intelligence to safeguard consumers in the digital age.
“Often in the legislature, we get a slow start and then push things through at the very end,” Chandler said. “We are dedicated to moving quickly, particularly on our public safety package, to introduce and move this quickly.”
She chairs the House Judiciary Committee and serves on the House Taxation and Revenue and House Rules and Order of Business committees. She is also a designee for the Legislative Finance Committee and a special advisor to the Legislative Council.
According to Chandler, she is proud of many achievements, including ensuring breast cancer screening access without out-of-pocket costs, the Healthy Workplaces Act for paid sick leave, broadband expansion, school ventilation improvements, tax rebates, harm reduction efforts, streamlined health insurance enrollment, support for prevailing wages and expanding the Local Economic Development Act.
Paid Family Medical Leave
Chandler’s top priority is passing House Bill 11, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, which she co-sponsored. A similar bill she backed last year failed to gain enough support.
The bill is co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Javier Martínez, Mimi Stewart, Patricia Roybal Caballero and Linda Serrato. It has cleared two committees and was set for an afternoon hearing in the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee on Feb. 19. If it passes, it will move to the Senate for the same process.
“PFML ensures workers have protections to take leave rather than just quit their jobs to care for family members when ill,” Chandler said. “However, it is also good for business in that it keeps their workforce steady and secure by protecting the investments they place in training employees. Employees can return to their workplace and remain loyal employees.”
According to Chandler, the act ensures New Mexican workers can take paid leave for major life events, including a serious illness or injury, the death of a child, welcoming a new child, domestic or sexual violence, or caring for a seriously ill loved one.
The act would create a statewide paid leave program funded by contributions from employees, employers, and self-employed individuals. All workers and employers would pay into a state fund, with one-half percent deducted from an employee’s wages.
Employers with five or more employees would contribute four-tenths of a percent of each employee’s wages. The Workforce Solutions Department would oversee the program, managing a dedicated Paid Family and Medical Leave Fund.
Eligible workers could receive up to 12 weeks of compensated leave for bonding with a new child, caring for a sick family member, recovering from an illness, addressing domestic violence, or adjusting to a spouse’s military deployment. Employers with fewer than five employees would be exempt from contributions, but their workers could still qualify.
“We have worked hard, particularly over the past year, to listen to the concerns of everyone involved so that we can implement a well-run program that protects workers while having minimal impact on business owners,” Chandler said. “Businesses would benefit in that all of the investment they put into training employees would not be lost by an employee just having to quit.”
Public safety
As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Chandler said the committee spent the past year listening to expert testimony to craft a “sensible and robust” public safety plan.
According to Source NM, the House passed a six-bill package of public safety legislation, including bills with sponsors from both parties, on a 48-20 vote, sending the bills to the Senate.
House Bill 8 proposes tougher penalties for violent and repeat offenders, stricter gun safety measures, juvenile crime reforms and tighter DWI laws.
It would increase penalties for fentanyl traffickers while expanding access to treatment, raise the charge for making a shooting threat to a fourth-degree felony, and criminalize possessing a weapon conversion device. The bill also seeks harsher penalties for vehicle theft and would make it easier for police to conduct blood tests in DWI cases and a controversial criminal competency bill is also included.
“Specifically, we will introduce a thoroughly vetted competency bill to address many of the concerns we’ve heard,” Chandler said.
According to Source NM, ACLU-NM Interim Director of Public Policy Lena Weber said the proposals in House Bill 8 “depart starkly from those championed by these community voices. While the proposal makes significant improvements from the proposals of the 2024 special session,” Weber said it “still relies principally on coerced care and forced hospitalization, which we know often exacerbate the very problems they seek to fix.”
Rep. Christine Chandler is co-sponsoring House Bill 12, to amend the 2020 “Red Flag” law, allowing law enforcement to petition for firearm seizures based on information gathered during official duties. The current law gives gun owners up to 48 hours to surrender their weapons after a judge approves an officer’s petition.
The bill aims to improve public safety by letting officers act preemptively when someone poses a significant risk. It clarifies that officers don’t need a third-party request before seeking judicial approval for a seizure. The measure has cleared three committees and is set for a House floor vote.
Chandler also proposed House Bill 283, which would create a task force to study the misuse of public records requests, recommend penalties and establish enforcement options.
The bill would require record requesters to certify non-solicitation or commercial use, set fees for commercial use and mandate timely responses to denied requests.
Critics, including Christine Barber, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, argue that the bill would make it harder for residents to access vital records, benefiting a small group of government employees while inconveniencing the public, according to a report by the Los Alamos Daily Post.
AI Regulation
Chandler introduced House Bill 60, the Artificial Intelligence Act, which has passed two committees. Co-sponsored with Reps. Andrea Romero, Debra M. Sariñana, and Linda M. Trujillo, the bill focuses on protecting consumers from algorithmic discrimination by requiring risk disclosures, impact assessments, and consumer notifications. Violations are enforceable by the Attorney General. Exemptions apply to small deployers and certain systems.
Chandler is also working on legislation to regulate AI and address its ethical, social, and economic impacts.
“The AI bill protects consumers, including ensuring that it does not perpetuate bias by including testing for discrimination protocols,” she said. “This is important as more companies use AI for screenings for leases, jobs, loans and insurance.”
Hearing from constituents
According to Chandler, constituents can take her 2025 survey at Christine4StateHouse.com to share their opinions and ideas. They can sign up for email updates, attend her town halls or visit her office at the Roundhouse, Room 308A.
She said constituents can make their voices heard by participating in public comment at nmlegis.gov and during legislative committee meetings.
To contact Chandler:
Office Phone: 505-986-4411Email: christine.chandler@nmlegis.gov