SANTA FE (KRQE) – When police arrested a trio of teens they say beat two homeless men to death for fun last summer, it set the wheels in motion for a state lawmaker. He couldn’t believe it wasn’t a hate crime. He’s working on changing that now.

As it stands, New Mexico’s hate crime statute covers race, religion, age, disability, gender and sexual orientation. Sen. Bill O’Neill has introduced a bill that would add homelessness to that list.

“Folks are being routinely assaulted and targeted and killed,” the Democrat from Albuquerque said Thursday. “That’s not OK.”

The homeless population would be defined as anyone “who lacks a fixed, adequate and regular night time residence,” applying to people who live in a car, park, abandoned building or on the streets.

Read more here: http://krqe.com/2015/02/05/bill-tweaks-hate-crime-laws-to-protect-the-homeless/