Esme, safe and cared for at Perfect Harmony Animal Rescue.
Not a single accomplishment won through the legislative process is easy—and sometimes, the fight for animals continues even after initially declaring victory. A prime example is Animal Protection Voters’ tireless efforts to strengthen the safety net for homeless and abused horses and other equines in New Mexico.
APV’s efforts span well over a decade, and in 2013 we succeeded in lobbying the State Legislature to create the Equine Shelter Rescue Fund (ESRF) as well as a new state tax refund check-off donation option on state tax forms to raise revenue for the fund. The following year, in 2014, APV successfully lobbied the Legislature to approve a one-time general fund appropriation of $250,000. But in the years that followed, only a small amount of funding was generated for the ESRF, not nearly enough support for our state’s equine shelters.
The ESRF is administered by the New Mexico Livestock Board with the purpose of helping to defray equine shelters’ costs of caring for the horses, donkeys, and mules in their care. In any given year, there are usually about one dozen equine shelter facilities that serve New Mexico. Historically, the Livestock Board has worked with a subcommittee comprised of Livestock Board officials and representatives from the animal protection and equine rescue community to apply a process for distributing the funds. Some years, the revenue generated for the ESRF was so little—just a few thousand dollars—that the subcommittee agreed to not issue a distribution and hold the small sum for future unforeseen emergencies.
Beginning in 2019, Animal Protection Voters began again approaching state legislators about refueling the ESRF with more, much-needed funds to bolster the equine sheltering services for New Mexico communities. Year after year, ESRF funding was not included in the state’s budgeting process.
But then in 2021, a new opportunity arose for individual legislators to direct funding to specific projects and programs (often referred to colloquially as the “junior bill” or “junior budget”). APV seized on this opportunity, and we were thrilled when three legislators agreed to dedicate funding to the ESRF (Representative Nathan Small, Representative Kristina Ortez, and Senator Carrie Hamblen), resulting in $150,000 in new funding.
And in 2022, when the “junior bill” allowed for some funding to be designated as recurring (meaning the Legislature would authorize that funding to be incorporated into future state agency budgets ongoing), APV was even more thrilled that six state legislators dedicated their recurring funding to the ESRF (Senator Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales, Senator Carrie Hamblen, Senator Brenda G. McKenna, Senator Steven P. Neville, Senator Elizabeth “Liz” Stefanics, and Representative Kristina Ortez), resulting in an annual recurring appropriation of $350,000!
APV and the equine community celebrated, thinking the state of New Mexico had finally cracked the code and achieved the first-ever reliable and meaningful source of state funding for New Mexico’s equine shelters that directly serve government agencies and communities by caring for homeless horses, donkeys, and mules. The first $350,000 from the 2022 legislative session was distributed to ten state-licensed equine rescue organizations, helping to build stability and capacity for these nonprofits that work so hard to care for vulnerable animals.
But when the 2023 legislative session arrived, APV learned that the New Mexico Livestock Board had failed to include the recurring $350,000 ESRF funding in their agency budget request. Subsequently, neither of the two government bodies that draft versions of the annual state budget, the Department of Finance & Administration and the Legislative Finance Committee, included that ESRF funding in their budget recommendations. As the state budget sailed through the legislative processes without the ESRF funding, APV was forced to quickly turn to the 2023 “junior bill” and worked with compassionate legislators (Senator Carrie Hamblen, Senator Brenda McKenna, and Representative Matthew McQueen) to dedicate $250,000 in one-time funding as a stopgap measure. In the 2024 legislative session, the ESRF was once again left out of the budget—but this time, we were unable to secure urgent stopgap funding.
In the ensuing months, we have learned from the New Mexico Livestock Board that the failure to include the recurring $350,000 funding from the 2022 “junior bill” into their subsequent budgets was not an oversight—it was an intentional decision. We were shocked to learn this, after working closely with the agency for so many years and receiving their unbridled support for the legislative funding asks we have made over those years. We have heard several reasons for their latest decision and are still in the process of seeking to understand their decision, but, respectfully stated, we are not convinced that their reasoning is sound. As we learn more and research the various issues and relevant laws, we will continue to share with our supporters who are reaching out to us wondering what happened to this recurring funding.
Animal Protection Voters fought very hard to secure the unprecedented $350,000 recurring appropriation for the Equine Shelter Rescue Fund and it has been devastating to us that New Mexico’s equine shelters did not see this money recur in 2023 and 2024 as intended due to Livestock Board’s refusal to put it into their budget request and the Legislature’s failure to add it to the budget. We are actively meeting with the Livestock Board to determine what can be done to overcome whatever obstacles they believe prevent them from incorporating this critical funding in their annual budget. A resolution to this impasse is crucial to homeless horses throughout the state.
In the meantime, New Mexico citizens are the equine shelters’ last hope of receiving funding from the ESRF! Your decision to put your state tax refund to go towards the ESRF, or to make a separate donation to the ESRF, will make a big difference for horses, donkeys, and mules. Donating to the ESRF will not go to the Livestock Board’s general operational budget but only to the fund specifically designated for equine shelters.
Visit our ESRF tax checkoff page to learn how, and to download the necessary PIT-D form to include in your tax paperwork.
And, to make a direct donation, write a check payable to “New Mexico Livestock Board” with “Equine Shelter Rescue Fund” in the memo and mail to:
New Mexico Livestock Board
2105 Osuna Rd. NE Building South
Albuquerque, NM 87113
