S.B. 312 GAME & FISH & WILDLIFE CHANGES by Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Doña Ana) and Rep. Nathan Small (D-Doña Ana), a bill opposed by the Piñon Post died in the Senate Conservation committee with Democrat Sen. Liz Stefanics (Bernalillo, Lincoln, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Torrance, and Valencia), the chair of the committee, voting with Republicans to table it.
“My district is parts of six counties — it is all rural — and I, in this case, I’m going to have to support my constituents,” she said.
The extreme and costly bill would have taken power away from the people and given it to the government. According to liberals, it would give “wildlife conservation” a “modern approach to wildlife management. It directs the state to manage and conserve the public’s wildlife.” This power-grab would mean higher permit prices for many out-of-state permits, harsher restrictions on what wildlife one could hunt, and it would rename the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to the “Department of Wildlife Conservation.”
The 241-page overhaul bill would have further bureaucratized the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and according to the bill itself, “[narrows] conditions for landowners on taking or killing animals on private land.” That means, in part, that it usurps the right for landowners to kill a wild animal on their land, for reasons of immediate threats to human life and for damage of property, including crops. It would now only allow killing the animal for the threat to human life. This would be required to be reported to the Department within 24 hours of disposal of the carcass.
These burdensome restrictions, among countless other flaws in the bill, such as a large appropriation necessary for its passage, are a detriment to taxpayers, landowners, and hunters in the state. Many landowners and employers testified in opposition while extremist “conservation” groups tried to pass the bill forward. Read the fiscal impact report on the bill for more information.
H.B. 254 – USE OF DEADLY FORCE REPORTING by Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Bernalillo) and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo) passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee by a party-line vote of 3-2.
Note: both of the bill sponsors are currently running for Congress in CD-1. This is the House version of the Senate’s S.B. 274.
According to the bill, “Within twenty-four hours of a person suffering great bodily harm or death as a result of a peace officer’s actions, the sheriff or the chief of police of the jurisdiction in which the great bodily harm or death occurred shall report the great bodily harm or death in writing to the district attorney of the judicial district in which the great bodily harm or death occurred. The sheriff or chief of police shall report all instances of suspected great bodily harm to the appropriate district attorney, even if a more thorough assessment of great bodily harm will be undertaken at a later date,”
The bill would put undue suspicion of wrongdoing on the part of the law enforcement officer, overburdening local sheriffs and district attorneys, while not trusting police officers to carry forth their duties. It now moves forward to its final committee, House Judiciary.
H.B. 306 – CONCEALED HANDGUN LICENSE TIME LIMITS by Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval & Santa Fe), passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, while another pro-gun bill from Rep. Lord, H.B. 279 failed on a vote of 3-2 to table it.
H.B. 306 bill will require the Department of Public Safety “to issue or deny an application for a concealed handgun license no more than 90 days after receiving a completed application and to renew a license no more than 60 days after a license submits a renewal request.”
Happening Today:
SENATE HEALTH AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Chair, convenes Monday, February 22 – 30 minutes after floor session (which is scheduled to convene at 11:30 a.m.)
*Times are subject to change depending on the Senate floor schedule. Join the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89738905182
S.B. 227 – INSPECTION OF POLICE MISCONDUCT INVESTIGATION – Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) – BAD
This bill is opposed by the Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Association and the New Mexico State Police Association. It adds crippling restrictions on law enforcement and adds strict reporting criteria which does nothing by penalize law enforcers for simply carrying out their duties. Included in the bill are restrictions, such as the following:
“A law enforcement officer shall not use a chokehold. J. A law enforcement officer shall not discharge tear gas or other chemical weapons. K. A law enforcement officer shall not discharge rubber pellets from a propulsion device. L. A law enforcement officer shall not direct a dog to bite a person.” This is an anti-law enforcement bill, which takes critical tools away from officers, which would leave them defenseless while barring them from doing the very job they took an oath to carry out: protect and defend communities.
According to far-left fringe groups, this bill is the “strongest in the nation” in terms of limits to local and state law enforcement. The bill’s supporters have spent countless dark money dollars from out-of-state lobbying for this anti-police bill, which would make it the most radical in the nation.