Please ask the Governor to Prioritize Libraries, Free Speech, and Readers’ Rights in 2026. Libraries, Free Expression, and Civil Rights belong on the 2026 legislative agenda for New Mexico.

New Mexico lawmakers are beginning to consider bills during the 2026 "short session." Freedom to Read New Mexico has been working with legislative champions to write legislation that would protect access to books in public libraries, K–12 school libraries, and academic libraries across the state. Together, these proposals affirm something fundamental to who we are as New Mexicans: that the freedom to read is a matter of First Amendment rights, civil rights, and equal educational opportunity.

Because the 2026 session is a short session, the issues lawmakers can consider are shaped by the Governor’s agenda. For this critically important legislation protecting libraries, free expression, and readers’ rights to move forward in 2026, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham needs to hear directly from New Mexicans who care about civil liberties, education, and the people libraries serve.

Please Take Action Before January 30, 2026. We have made it easy to use this form to send your message to the Governor asking her to put these bills on the Agenda. She needs to hear why libraries and the freedom to read matter in our own lives.

The three bills are:

HB26 Prohibiting Book Banning at Public Libraries
Sponsors - Rep. Kathleen Cates, Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero

SB45 Academic Library Management Policies
Sponsors - Senator Harold Pope, Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Rep. Kathleen Cates

SB65 Management of Public School Libraries
Sponsors - Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Senator Harold Pope, Rep. Kathleen Cates

As the statewide nonpartisan coalition of parents, grandparents, students, educators, librarians, community leaders, authors, and allies, we encourage New Mexicans to respectfully ask the Governor to include libraries, free expression, and readers’ rights on the 2026 legislative agenda so these proposals can be fully considered in the short session.