Governor signs health-care package in Los Lunas, aims to aid McKinley County

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham traveled to the construction site of the soon-to-open Valencia County Hospital in Los Lunas and on March 6 signed a package of health-care bills meant to address physician shortages, billing practices and hospital finances. The governor’s office noted a $50 million state pledge toward the 15-bed Valencia County Hospital where the ceremony took place, and the measures signed included HB 99, HB 4, HB 306 and SB 101.

HB 99, the medical malpractice reform bill sponsored by Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, was the centerpiece of the signing and was described in reporting as “years in the making” and “among the most-debated bills” of the 2026 legislative session. Rep. Chandler called the bill an “incredible journey” and KOB quoted her saying, “Bill 99 is a balanced approach that will improve the climate for our doctors while preserving avenues to justice for our patients who are harmed.” On the Senate floor, Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, led an effort to strip Judiciary Committee amendments and called those changes a “hijacking” of the bill.

KOB reported specific punitive-damages caps tied to HB 99, listing $1 million for independent providers, $6 million for locally owned hospitals and $15 million for larger systems; that outlet also quoted Gov. Lujan Grisham saying, “This was an incredible, Herculean lift because you want to protect patients, but we have to change the climate of practice.” The governor framed the package more broadly in a press release as measures that “transform New Mexico’s health care system,” saying the bills will “protect patients and doctors” and that “All New Mexicans will benefit as a result.”

Supporters tied HB 99 and the wider package to recruiting and retaining physicians. Dr. Robert Underwood, president of the New Mexico Medical Society, told KOB that “physician training is kind of on an annual cycle, and so it’ll be a couple of years as we can attract more and more physicians to the state,” and that the law “sends a really good signal to physicians and honestly to medical malpractice insurance underwriters.” Sen. Brantley said passage would deliver relief “from Pie Town to Las Cruces,” emphasizing bipartisan cooperation.

Other signed measures included HB 4, described by the governor’s office as funding to boost health-care affordability, HB 306, aimed at billing transparency and limits on some facility fees, and SB 101, described in Source NM and the press release as preserving hospital funding and supporting hospitals that honor Medicaid. The legislative session concluded on Feb. 19, and officials held the March 6 signing after the session wrapped; the governor’s press release framed the package as a “historic milestone” in a years-long effort to shore up hospitals’ long-term financial security.

Gaps remain in the public record: the enrolled bill texts, effective dates and fiscal notes were not released at the signing, and the KOB figures for punitive-damages caps are reported by that outlet pending verification against final bill language. Gov. Lujan Grisham left open “a little more work” on licensing compacts during the remainder of her final term, which ends at the end of the year, and state and local officials will need the statutory texts and implementation plans to show when changes will affect hospitals and patient care across New Mexico, including communities served by rural hospitals.