ABQ starts the first month of the new year with 10 murders, according to the unofficial count, and that puts it on a path to match or surpass the stunning 117 killings that haunted the state's largest city in 2021. 

Experts say the chief cause is a fentanyl epidemic meeting a new gun culture that says if you're old enough to hold an iPhone you're old enough to hold a gun that you shoot first and ask questions later. 

And not a thing happening at the legislative session is likely to slow the murder meter.

ABQ Mayor Tim Keller must have been having a bad dream when he said he wants a special session of the legislature if his favored crime bills are not passed during the regular session. That's about as likely as Brian Colón declining to be photographed.

At this point it's a game of cut your losses for MLG. By all assessments she (and Keller and BernCo DA Raul Torrez) are going to lose their plan to have defendants stay locked in jail before their trials if they can't prove they don't deserve to be there, instead of having the prosecution continuing to do that job. 

(Okay, or maybe a fig leaf compromise that is essentially meaningless).

Even if that plan was somehow rescued by Senate Judiciary mortician Joseph Cervantes the impact would be negligible, acknowledge even the legislation's supporters and their backers in the conservative media.

The Guv still has that $100 million proposal on the table to hire more police statewide. And there is that measure (HB 9) from ABQ Dem state Rep. Pamelya Herndon that would make adults responsible for keeping their guns safely away from kids or face a stiff fine. Those are two impactful and publicly relatable measures and will be suitable for the campaign trail where MLG must now cut her losses or get dragged into a no-win argument with the Republican Guv nominee. 

No Governor nor legislature is going to solve the now institutionalized ABQ crime crisis. It is fully owned by current and past mayors, current and past police chiefs, current and past DA's and current and past city councils, even if they don't recognize that or don't want to. 

ABQ is on its own in cleaning up its mess but so is Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho and the rest of the state. If nothing else, when the gavel comes down that will be the enduring lesson of this legislative session.

So you want to join the circus. . . er. . . we mean legislature? Well, here's your chance if you live in ABQ South Valley State House District 12, but you better hurry: 

Brittney Barreras, citing mental health concerns, resigned from the seat last Friday. The BernCo Commission will meet Wednesday at 2 p.m. to name her replacement. No R's need apply. The commission (except for one of their five members) is all D all the time. 

The appointment is good until the end of the year. A two year term for the seat will be on the ballot at this year's election. Legislators are paid $175 a day when they are in session and the same for attending interim committee meetings. 

It's hard to believe given the crazy amount of surplus money stacked up in a variety of legislative funds (billions and billions) but it's still like a fast moving game of badminton around here as we try to strike down the many tax increase proposals that are floating around the Capitol.

Certainly the public is looking with dropped jaws at the historic tower of cash accumulating and wondering if some will find a way down to them but here we are today back at the Senate Finance Committee where a Clean Fuel Standards Act (SB 14) will be considered that would tax high carbon fuels and subsidize low carbon fuels. The goal is to have the state rely more on the low carbon alternatives. Opponents warn a significant gas tax increase could be in store if it passes.

With gas prices already well over three bucks a gallon and this bill threnating more increases, one wonders how rural Dem Senators like Bobby Gonzales, George Munoz and Pete Campos will line up. The bill has already passed the Senate tax committee and if it makes it through finance today it goes to the Senate floor. Passage in the House is a given. 

Everyone favors clean fuels but can they slow the train down and pull it into the station without hiking taxes? Just askin'.

There's a new line around the Roundhouse about that proposal to let 16 year olds vote in local  elections: 

Yeah, now we're  bloggin'. . . or something. 

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