2012 Legislative Session
Summary of Bills being tracked by the Department of Game and Fish
February 9, 2012
** Denotes Department Sponsored Bills
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BILLS
HB 2 – GENERAL APPROPRIATION ACT OF 2012 (Saavedra) – This bill will contain the final FY 2013 Operating Budgets for all State Agencies. The Department of Game and Fish budget will be added to this bill after committee review of House Bill 5.
**HB 5 – DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH APPROPRIATION FY13 Budget (Stewart) – This bill contains the FY 2013 Operating Budget appropriation for the Department of Game and Fish. It appropriates money for four programs, comprised of seven statutorily created budgeted funds under the jurisdiction of the State Game Commission and the Department. The allocation contained in this bill represents a budget of $38,658,000.
HB 7 – GENERAL APPROPRIATION ACT OF 2012 (Varela) – This bill contains the State’s FY 2013 Operating Budget that will be rolled into House Bill 2 once approved. In addition to containing the Department’s budget as identified in House Bill 5, it also includes an appropriation of eighty-two thousand three hundred dollars ($82,300) from the game protection fund to the State Engineer’s office for Eagle Nest dam operations.
HB 24 – AMEND HUNTING AND FISHING LICENSE FEES (Rehm) – This bill will combine the current Habitat Management and Access Stamp and the Habitat Improvement Program validation into one fee of not less than $9, which will be added to the cost of a game hunting and fishing license and GAIN permits as an annual one-time fee. At minimum $5 of the fee will be used to fund Habitat improvement projects on US Forest Service lands and BLM lands; and fund the costs associated with employing a full time program manager. The bill will also establish new reduced deer and elk license rates for non-resident junior hunters and remove the fee for a second rod fishing validation.
HB 34 – RULEMAKING REQUIREMENTS (Gentry & Keller) – This bill will require all state agencies expecting to engage in rulemaking to prepare and provide to the public a regulatory agenda by June 30th of each year. The agenda would include any pending rules and a list of rules that would be expected to be proposed during the next fiscal year. However, the bill does not prevent an agency from acting on rules that were not included on their regulatory agenda. The bill will also create timelines for which rules will be made available for public review prior to the hearings on those rules.
HB 35 – PUBLIC MEETING AGENDAS 72 HOURS PRIOR (Smith) – This bill will change the time requirement that agendas must be made available to the public for public meetings from twenty-four hours to at least seventy-two hours prior to the meeting.
HB 73 – STOCK WATER RIGHTS ON FEDERAL LANDS (Tripp) – This bill appropriates three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) to the office of the state engineer from the General Fund for expenditure in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 for use in identifying and quantifying a reported 1072 private stock water uses on USFS lands within the Gila and San Francisco river basins. The funds would be used for the purpose of conducting a required hydrographic survey of stock watering rights within the Gila National Forest.
**HB 115 – HUNTING LICENSE REFUNDS FOR FOREST FIRES (Rehm) – This bill establishes in statute the ability for the Director of the Game and Fish to authorize a refund for the amount of a hunting license fee if the director cancels a hunt due to a forest fire or other natural disaster.
HB 134 – CATRON COUNTY STOCK WATER RIGHTS (Tripp) – This bill appropriates one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to the board of regents of New Mexico state university from the General Fund for expenditure in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 for use by Catron County to support identification and quantification of stock water rights on federal lands within the Gila and San Francisco river basins. The funds would be used for the purpose of conducting a hydrographic survey of stock watering rights within the Gila National Forest.
HB 248 – ACCESS TO FEDERAL LAND WATER RIGHTS (Hall) – This bill provides individuals who have water rights on public lands associated with livestock leases rights-of-way for reasonable access for the beneficial use of livestock to those water rights.
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
HJR 7 – MCKINLEY & SANDOVAL COUNTY PROPERTY SALE (Garcia) – This Joint Resolution authorizes the State Game Commission to convey the Marquez Wildlife Area to the Cobolleta Land Grant through negotiated sale or trade.
HOUSE MEMORIAL
HM 3 – AMPLE OUTDOOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILDREN (Stewart) – This memorial supports the idea that every New Mexico child should have ample outdoor opportunities using existing resources, and encourages state agencies, including the Department of Game and Fish, to develop and advertise outdoor programs for children, including opportunities on New Mexico state-owned lands.
SENATE BILLS
**SB 33 – ADDITIONAL BIGHORN SHEEP ENHANCEMENT PERMITS (Sharer) – This bill creates two additional bighorn sheep enhancement permits (one for auction and one for raffle) for generation of revenue for bighorn sheep preservation, restoration and management.
SB 39 - MERCURY WARNING SIGNS AT LAKES & RIVERS (Wirth) – This bill provides a one-time appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars from the general fund to the department of game and fish for expenditure in fiscal year 2013 to post warning signs on lakes and rivers where mercury levels may pose a risk to children or pregnant women.
SB 80 – GENERAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT OF 2012 (Smith) – This bill contains the State’s FY13 Operating Budget that will be rolled into House Bill 2 once approved. In addition to containing the Department’s budget as identified in House Bill 5, it also includes an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from the game protection fund to the State Engineer’s office for Ute dam operations.
SB 200 – LAND CONSERVATION TAX CREDIT (Griego) – This bill amends and enacts new sections of the various Tax Act’s and the Land Conservation Incentives Act to establish conditions for which individuals or corporations may receive a tax credit when making certain conveyances, including conservation easements, of real property for donations made after January 1, 2012.
* SB 244 – LAND OFFICE TREE DENSITY REDUCTION (Campos) – This bill appropriates Eight hundred ninety thousand dollars ($890,000) to the state land office from the state lands maintenance fund for expenditure in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 to reduce the high levels of fuel and tree densities that can fuel wildfires on state trust lands.
SB 257 – RULEMAKING PROCEDURES & IMPACT STATEMENTS (Boitano) – (Similar to HB 34) – This bill will require all state agencies expecting to engage in rulemaking to prepare and provide to the public a regulatory agenda by June 30th of each year. The agenda would include any pending rules and a list of rules that would be expected to be proposed during the next fiscal year. However, the bill does not prevent an agency from acting on rules that were not included on their regulatory agenda. The bill will also create timelines for which rules will be made available for public review prior to the hearings on those rules.
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTIONS
SJR 11 – PROTECTION OF RIGHT TO HUNT & FISH (Munoz) – This joint resolution proposes an amendment to Article 2 of the Constitution of New Mexico by adding a new section to protect the right to hunt and fish. If passed, the resolution would be placed on the next general election ballot for public vote to specify that residents of New Mexico have a right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife lawfully in addition to decreeing that no law shall be enacted and no rule shall be adopted that unreasonably restricts hunting, fishing and harvesting wildlife or the use of traditional means and methods.
SENATE JOINT MEMORIALS
SJM 50 – CONSERVATION & CULTURE ACADEMY (Munoz) – This memorial requests cooperation and support for the efforts of the Department of Game and Fish to establish a conservation and culture academy for the preservation of traditional cultures, watersheds and activities. The Academy is described as being a four- to six-week summer session for students in the tenth through twelfth grades and will be held on working ranches that have ongoing Rio Grande cutthroat trout restoration initiatives; for which an advisory group named by the director will develop a curriculum. The memorial also requests that the department of game and fish study the feasibility of creating and managing a dedicated youth conservation and culture education fund.
SENATE MEMORIALS
SM 50 – NO ADDITIONAL WILDERNESS NEAR PECOS (Griego) – This memorial requests that the United States Congress refrain from designating additional wilderness areas surrounding the existing Pecos Wilderness.
SM 75 – STUDY ANIMAL FUR TRAPPING (Eichenberg) – This memorial requests that the New Mexico Legislative Council direct the appropriate legislative committee to hear testimony on animal fur trapping in New Mexico.
