New Mexico think tank says debate whether lawmakers will receive salaries must also spark sweeping overhaul on ethics rules governing them, lobbyists, and pressure groups.
The proposal by Think New Mexico, a Santa Fe-based public-policy organization, comes amid public confidence in the state government has fallen sharply, with only 19 percent of New Mexicans said they trusted their state government, down from 31 percent in 2020, a record low in the survey series.
Think New Mexico’s new report, The Next Step for a Modernizing Legislature, argues that New Mexico’s legislative ethics laws lag behind rules governing the state’s executive and judicial branches. It also noted the same ethics laws are less rigorous than those in many other states.
The proposal’s timing is significant as voters will decide on Constitutional Amendment 4 on November 3, 2026, which would allow state legislators to receive compensation equal to the state’s median household income, currently about $67,800, with an estimated annual cost of roughly $7.6 million for all 112 legislators, according to a legislative fiscal analysis.
New Mexico is the only state whose lawmakers do not receive salaries, although legislators receive per-diem payments for expenses associated with legislative work.
This absence of legislative salaries, according to Think New Mexico, helps explain the state’s light ethics requirements. But if lawmakers are going to become salaried public officials, the think tank says the state should also strengthen the rules governing conflicts of interest, financial disclosures, and the relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists.
Lawmakers could face tougher conflict-of-interest rules
One of the most significant proposals would require legislators to disclose direct financial conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from voting or take action on legislation involving those conflicts.
Forty-three state legislatures already require disclosure of direct financial conflicts, while 36 require legislators to recuse them, the organization says.
A BSP Polling survey found 81 percent, or roughly 8 in 10, of New Mexico voters supported requiring legislators to disclose and recuse themselves from direct financial conflicts. Only 5 percent opposed the proposal.
The organization also wants lawmakers and other senior officials to provide more specific information about the sources of their income and assets on annual financial disclosure forms to make it easier to identify potential conflicts.
The group also proposed a two-year cooling-off period before a former legislator could become a paid lobbyist, saying that 37 states have similar restrictions. According to the August poll, 66 percent of New Mexico voters supported such a rule, with only 10 percent opposed it.
The proposal addresses one of the most closely watched revolving-door issues in government involving the transition from making laws to being paid to influence the lawmakers who make them.
Lobbyists would have to reveal more
The report also calls for substantially more information from registered lobbyists.
Under the proposed reforms, lobbyists would have to provide greater detail about legislators benefiting from lobbying-related expenditures; bills or issues those expenditures concerned; client paid for them; how much each client paid the lobbyist; bills the lobbyist was working on; and what position the lobbyist was advocating.
The reporting schedule would also change. Instead of waiting until May to provide financial information, lobbyists would be required to file reports during the legislative session and shortly after it ends.
Think New Mexico says the BSP poll found broad voter support for these changes, including 81 percent support for requiring lobbyists to disclose compensation from each client and 79 percent support for more frequent financial reporting.
About three-quarters of voters also supported requiring lobbyists to identify which lawmakers benefited from expenditures, which bills or issues were involved and which clients paid for those expenditures.
Dark money and ‘fake’ constituent messages targeted
The report also takes aim at political spending that can make it difficult for voters to determine who is actually behind an advertisement, suggesting that groups bankroll political or issue advertisements to disclose the original or “true source” of the money used to pay for them.
It also proposes closing what the organization describes as a loophole affecting out-of-state political action committees, requiring them to comply with the same disclosure requirements as New Mexico-based PACs.
The organization also recommended prohibiting advocacy groups from sending communications to lawmakers using constituents’ names and contact information without those constituents’ clear consent.
The report’s polling is relevant because it connects two issues that will be debated together as New Mexico considers whether legislators should receive salaries.
The polling, led by Gabriel Sanchez, reported that 81 percent of voters support holding legislators to a higher ethical standard.
Sixty-four percent support paying legislators a salary if lawmakers are simultaneously required to comply with mandatory ethics reforms, the survey also found.
Think New Mexico says Sanchez, a former chair of the University of New Mexico’s political science department, will discuss the poll’s findings at a public press availability on September 30, 2026.
