SANTA FE — At the direction of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the state will pay monthly subscriber fees for radio service for federal, local, and tribal first responders. The decision comes following the failure of a bill in the last legislative session that would have reimbursed public safety agencies for the cost of the subscription. The statewide system is managed and operated by the state Department of Information Technology.
Senate Bill 409, sponsored by Sens. William Burt and Brenda McKenna and Rep. Joshua Hernandez, would have reimbursed first responders from municipal, county, or tribal public safety agencies the subscriber fees for interoperability. The governor asked DoIT to cover the subscriber fee to honor her commitment to public safety.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham and her administration understand the critical importance of keeping first responders safe and making sure they are able to best serve the people of New Mexico,” said Acting Cabinet Secretary Raja Sambandam. “This funding will make sure that first responders have more resources on other public safety priorities in their communities.”
The state encourages more public safety agencies to utilize the system, which provides the ability for first responders from different agencies to communicate with each other in an emergency event on a unified platform.
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