2025 State Animal Protection Legislation
The 2025 New Mexico legislative session has started and will continue through March 22. Here’s where we will be posting updates on the status of our priority legislation, as well as other animal-related legislation. Sign up for our emails for the very latest updates.
Animal Protection Voters Priorities
HB 113: Animal Welfare Program and Trust Fund
Sponsors: Rep. Tara Lujan, Rep. Reena Szczepanski, Rep. Joseph Sanchez, Rep. Cynthia Borrego, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, Rep. Michelle Abeyta, Rep. Anita Gonzales
House Bill 113 will establish the Animal Welfare Trust Fund, an investment fund which will grow over time to create sustainable funding to improve New Mexico’s animal care infrastructure. Earnings from the Animal Welfare Trust Fund would be disbursed as grants and contracts for services by the New Mexico Department of Finance & Administration. County and municipal shelters, as well as nonprofit organizations, would be eligible to apply for funding to cover a wide variety of programs and projects to bolster animal welfare and public health & safety via New Mexico’s dog and cat shelters and rescues, law enforcement and animal control agencies, and community programs.
Status Updates:
- 2/5/25: Amended to include “or an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo” and passed out of House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee with unanimous support (8-0 vote)
- Awaiting hearing in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee
HB 284: Promoting the Humane Management of Free-Roaming Horses
Sponsors: Rep. Matthew McQueen, Sen. Pat Woods
New Mexico is home to many herds of free-roaming horses that are not under federal management. While these horses are often cherished by communities, in some areas they lack adequate protection and face degraded habitat, increasing conflicts with wildlife and other uses of land. This legislation updates current law by allowing local governments to take the lead on free-roaming horse protection and management by working with qualified experts who are registered with the New Mexico Livestock Board. These experts would need to be skilled in determining the land’s carrying capacity, use best available science, and use humane methods to stabilize herd size and relocate horses when necessary. This bill also ensures there are guardrails to prevent the slaughter of New Mexico’s wild and free-roaming horses, as well as to preserve our landscapes.
Status Updates:
- 2/13/25: Passed out of the House Agriculture, Acequias & Water Resources Committee (7-0 vote)
- Awaiting hearing in the House Judiciary Committee
SB 5: Game Commission Reform
Sponsors: Sen. Pete Campos, Sen. Peter Wirth, Rep. Matthew McQueen, Sen. Crystal Brantley, Rep. Nathan Small
Senate Bill 5 will modernize wildlife management using science-based methods, stabilize the New Mexico Game Commission by shielding members from politics, and bring much needed funding to the Department of Game & Fish. Currently, Game Commission members are not required to have specific qualifications related to wildlife management, and the Department is largely focused on managing species that are hunted and fished. Thus, neither entity reflects New Mexicans’ growing appreciation for watching, photographing, and otherwise enjoying wildlife through non-consumptive means. Animal Protection Voters is part of a wide coalition supporting this legislation, meeting on common ground so that all New Mexicans can enjoy thriving wildlife populations for generations to come.
Status Updates:
- 1/27/25: Passed the Senate Rules Committee (6-3 vote)
- 2/8/25: Passed out of the Senate Conservation Committee (5-3 vote)
- Awaiting hearing in the Senate Finance Committee
SB 26: Protection Against Abuse and Violence Act
Sponsors: Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Rep. Pamelya Herndon, Rep. Tara Lujan, Rep. Diane Torres-Velásquez, Sen. Angel Charley, Sen. Cindy Nava
New Mexico’s law against family violence needs updates, including the addition of provisions to recognize animal abuse with the intent to harm or intimidate someone is a form of domestic violence. The law should also allow companion animals to be included in protective orders. Both changes would better protect domestic violence survivors and their beloved animals by allowing them to swiftly escape abuse together. Animal Protection Voters is part of a coalition advocating for broad reforms to the Family Violence Protection Act.
Status Updates:
- 2/13/25: Passed out of the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee (6-4 vote)
- Awaiting a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee
SB 358: Equine Welfare Trust Fund
Sponsor: Sen. Carrie Hamblen
This bill would create the Equine Welfare Trust Fund, an investment fund that would generate earnings that would flow to the existing Equine Shelter Rescue Fund, which is administered by the New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB). These funds are distributed to the state’s registered equine shelters to address New Mexico’s unique and growing challenges in caring for homeless and abused equines. When the NMLB seizes equines from cruelty situations, or impounds abandoned equines, they turn to the network of registered non-profit equine shelters to care for and rehabilitate those animals.
Status Updates:
- Awaiting a hearing in the Senate Conservation Committee
Other Bills APV Supports
SM 3: Beaver Population & Management Plan
Sponsor: Sen. Peter Wirth
Senate Memorial 3 calls for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF), the Forestry Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD), and the State Land Office (SLO) to collaborate in developing recommendations for a comprehensive statewide beaver management plan. This legislation acknowledges the positive impacts of healthy North American beaver populations on watershed health and seeks expert guidance on formulating a statewide management strategy.
Status:
- Awaiting a hearing in Senate Rules Committee
HB 111: Search for Missing Qualified Service Animal (“Ivy’s Law”)
Sponsors: Rep. Marian Matthews, Rep. Eleanor Chávez, Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil, Rep. Meredith Dixon
House Bill 111, also known as Ivy’s Law, would increase protections for qualified service animals during emergencies. Once notified by the owner, trainer or handler that a service animal is missing, first responders, to the extent practicable and while prioritizing human safety and security, would be required to make a reasonable effort to search for the animal. The bill is named after Ivy, a service dog who perished under debris after a city water main caused the roof of her house to collapse in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Status:
- 1/11/25: Passed out of the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee (6-0) vote
- 2/17/25: Passed out of the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee (9-0 vote)
- Awaiting a vote on the House Floor
HB 366: Veterinarian As Health Practitioner
Sponsor: Rep. Gail Armstrong
This legislation would render non-compete clauses, for veterinarians, unenforceable upon the termination of their agreements or employment, which would likely increase the availability of
Status:
- Awaiting a hearing in House Health & Human Services Committee
SB 21: Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act
Sponsors: Sen. Peter Wirth, Rep. Kristina Ortez, Sen. Bobby Gonzales
This bill will establish authorities for the State of New Mexico to take over federal permitting for waters that have federal protections under the Clean Water Act. New Mexico is one of only three states in the nation that currently leaves this up to the Environmental Protection Agency, so permits for waters still protected under the Clean Water Act aren’t issued here in New Mexico but from a regional office in Dallas. Cruel, environmentally devastating mega-dairies and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) are frequent sources of water pollution required to be permitted and regulated.
Status:
- 1/30/25: Passed out of the Senate Conservation Committee (6-3 vote)
- Awaiting a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee
SB 70: Add Racketeering Crimes
Sponsors: Sen. Craig Brandt, Rep. Catherine Cullen
This bill will update our state’s racketeering law, commonly known as the RICO Act, by adding dog fighting and cockfighting to the list of violations. Adding organized animal fighting to our RICO statute will bring our state’s statute in line with what law enforcement professionals here and across the country have long known: that animal fighting rings are often part of larger criminal enterprises that include drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, and more. Using the RICO statute to interrupt animal fighting rings means better protection not just for the animals harmed and killed, but for our communities.
Status:
- 1/29/25: Provided a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee but no action taken; Committee intends to wait and roll multiple crime bills into one single public safety omnibus bill
SB 291: Enforcement Of Game & Fish Laws
Sponsor: Sen. Crystal Brantley
SB 291 would extend the authority of State Parks law enforcement to include the enforcement of Chapter 17, related to game and fish statutes. If passed this bill would mandate that the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Conservation Officers enforce the entire Criminal and Motor Vehicle Code by removing the ‘under emergency circumstances’ qualifier and the limitation to specific statutes.
Status:
- Awaiting a hearing in Senate Conservation Committee
Anti-Animal Legislation
HB 319: Quail as “Game Bird” & Raising Without Permit
Sponsors: Rep. Stefani Lord, Rep. John Block
This bill would allow unpermitted and unregulated domesticated quail keeping and breeding, which could have damaging effects on New Mexico’s native wildlife populations and ecosystems.
Status:
- Awaiting a hearing in the House Agriculture, Acequias & Water Resources Committee
Looking for legislation from years past? View our bill archive.
