Senate memorial to convene statewide youth violence summit passes after amendment to include youth and legislative appointees

The committee approved Senate Memorial 20, which requests the Department of Health to convene a statewide youth violence summit that includes youth with lived experience, community organizations, law enforcement and state agencies to develop data-driven prevention and intervention strategies.

Sponsor Senator Lopez described the measure as a response to recommendations from the Council of State Governments and earlier regional work, citing the OYA conference model for youth engagement. Testimony from civic and service organizations—including the Office of African American Affairs, behavioral-health providers and community groups—urged the committee to center youth voices and use data to align housing, juvenile justice, behavioral health and education interventions.

The committee adopted an amendment (0.234123 0.1) to add New Mexico youth with juvenile-justice experience and to broaden legislative appointments to two senators and two representatives (each appointed by leadership) to ensure legislative participation. Members debated whether a statewide convening can account for regional differences and concluded the summit should be statewide while building regional follow-ups. The memorial passed by a 9-1 margin and will move to the next stage.