Advocates cry afoul as governor floats bill against panhandling on medians

Jul. 13—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is introducing a bill during the upcoming special session to make panhandling on some medians a crime — saying the bill could stem the state's dismal rate of pedestrian fatalities and increase public safety.

Authorities in Albuquerque, where most pedestrian deaths occur, say they have no data or anecdotal evidence that panhandling plays a part in people getting hit by drivers.

Advocates for the unhoused say the bill would criminalize homelessness and distracts from real solutions to safer roadways like lowering speeds and fewer lanes.

The bill would make it unlawful for anyone to "access, use, occupy, congregate or assemble" on a median narrower than 36 inches and on a street with a speed limit of 30 mph or greater. A violation would amount to a petty misdemeanor.

In a handout of bill summaries given to the Journal, the governor's office said "We are not criminalizing homelessness."

"This is strictly designed to protect pedestrians and motorists and to address New Mexico's status as the number one state for pedestrian fatalities," according to the handout. "This is NOT about banning panhandling. People are still free to ask for money on sidewalks and other public areas."

Last year, 101 people were fatally struck by drivers statewide and 56 of those deaths happened in Bernalillo County, according to state and local data. So far this year, 44 pedestrians have been killed across New Mexico and 22 of those were in the county.

New Mexico has been ranked deadliest state for pedestrians every year since 2016 by the Governors Highway Safety Association. Dangerous by Design has ranked Albuquerque as the second-deadliest metro area nationwide in its last two bi-annual reports.

As has been the case since 2018, the largest cluster of deaths in Albuquerque happened in a three-mile portion of Central, between Eubank and San Mateo. In all, 38 people have been fatally struck by a driver in that stretch over the past six years.

Most of those fatalities happened east of Louisiana, the only part of Central that still has six lanes, a 40 mph speed limit and no pedestrian lighting.

Albuquerque Police Department Sgt. James Burton told the Journal the majority of pedestrian fatal crashes involve the unhoused community but the department had not analyzed crash reports to see if any involved panhandling.

"I have not been tracking panhandling... that's just not a factor I have ever tracked for our stats, is whether or not they were panhandling," he said.

Burton said he reviews all fatal pedestrian crashes monthly, and has done so for the past year and a half. He said, in dozens of reviews, he couldn't recall panhandling coming up as a factor.

Burton said, however, the practice can be a traffic hazard.

"Anybody that's in a roadway outside of a designated crosswalk is a danger," he said. "They are both a danger to themselves, as well as drivers."

Burton said the city already enforces a city ordinance that effectively prohibits panhandling on certain medians but that officers try to educate or warn people before writing them a ticket.

He said, for that reason, the statewide bill wouldn't have any effect in the city as the work is already being done. Signs have been posted on medians where the ordinance is in effect, those smaller than 3-feet wide.

Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesman, said last year they wrote 63 citations for breaking the ordinance. He said they have written 13 so far this year.

"We're already looking at ways to reduce pedestrian fatals within the city... I think we are already going with a lot of our in place practices," Burton said.

He said that includes discussions on lighting, roadway design and tailored enforcement. In some cases, a solution appears evasive.

Burton said earlier this year a driver was speeding more than 70 mph down Central before a fatal crash. On the flip side, he said, a person was 53 feet from a crosswalk when he stepped into the road "immediately in front of an oncoming car."

"There's no way for us to prevent that, that's a choice ... the pedestrian's fault," he said. "We never refer to them as 'accidents,' we always refer to them as 'crashes.' Because there's always something somebody did that led to the crash."

Criminalizing homelessness

Local advocates say the bill will likely not stem pedestrian fatalities, is unconstitutional and will do more harm than good for those living on the streets.

Monet Silva, executive director at the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, called the bill "an attack on homelessness" under the guise of public safety.

"Its basically like 'lets get them out of sight, out of mind,'" Silva said of the legislation.

She said her organization is not against the idea behind the bills being introduced and recognize that public safety is a big concern. Silva added "the ways they are being addressed in these bills is not the right way."

Silva said the governor heard their concerns and pushed back, saying "doing nothing is not an option."

"That's not what we're saying at all," she said, adding they want to everyone to be involved in brainstorming solutions for the next legislative session.

Silva pointed out that the rise in homelessness, which almost doubled in Albuquerque since 2022, and the issues with the state's behavioral health system were not created overnight.

"We shouldn't have the thought that we can fix these things overnight," she said.

Winter Torres, director of the New Mexico Eviction Prevention and Diversion Program, said Lujan Grisham is looking for "easy political wins" with the bill. If passed and enforced, she said, it will end up costing the state a lot of money in lawsuits

Torres said data presented by the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee showed people crossing the street, in a crosswalk or not, were the ones being killed.

Alternatively, she said, the governor could use state funds to make changes to the deadliest roadways, like East Central, that would save lives. A East Central Safety Study released in 2020 recommended lowering speeds, narrowing lanes and adding pedestrian lighting to the stretch between Louisiana and Eubank.

None of those things have been done.

Torres said the governor has not provided, or cited in the bill, data that shows panhandling or medians to be a contributor to pedestrian deaths.

Torres said the people who would be targeted by the bill already have so many unmet needs, like supportive housing and wraparound services. She said they don't need another hoop to jump through, being cited while panhandling, not showing up for a hearing — a constant issue for the unhoused — and then being put in jail.

"What's going to happen is they're going to cycle back to exactly where they were," Torres said. "... we're going to have more people to help, who will be more traumatized."

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has already made it clear they will sue if the bill is passed.

ACLU Legal Director Maria Martinez Sanchez said the bill would apply to medians statewide and "you just can't do that" when you're dealing with free speech, which panhandling is considered.

"I have yet to hear from anyone what evidence the legislature or the governor has to support curbing speech on every single median in the state under 36 inches," she said. "... The restrictions have to achieve their intended purpose without burdening substantially more speech than necessary."

Martinez Sanchez added, "Here, no evidence has been presented that people merely standing on a median are causing all of the pedestrian fatalities that the governor talks about."

She said the pedestrian fatalities are happening because the state doesn't have "the requisite infrastructure in place and people drive like crazy in this state."

"Someone standing in the median is not what's causing us to come in first as the worst place for pedestrian safety ... that's simply not the case," Martinez Sanchez said.

The ACLUNM won a lawsuit against Albuquerque in 2019 over a panhandling ordinance, a judgment that Martinez Sanchez said had the city pay out $300,000.

She sees a similar path for the state if this bill passes.

"I think the overarching picture is, this is not how you deal with homelessness, this is not how you deal with panhandling. You address the root causes of those things and we know what those are," she said, referencing insufficient housing, drug abuse and behavioral health issues.

She continued, "Maybe they're expensive, maybe they're hard ... the societal issues that our city and our country and our state are facing — if you actually address those, then you're not going to have as many people panhandling."