Tuesday, February 14, 2006
It's been a busy week...
Animal Sheltering Services Act makes strides.
SB 122 passed the House Judiciary Committee last night. The bill was the last heard by the committee and the only one they heard after their dinner break. A number of friendly-amendments were passed by the committee, mostly addressing language in the violations section the committee felt was too vague to be enforced.
These amendments mean that once the bill passes the full House, it needs to get concurance from the Senate on the changes made in the House. Before we get there, the bill must be addressed by House Appropriations and Finance Committee and the full House. It is a time crunch, considering the session ends on noon on Thursday...but not impossible!
Horses also made strides with SM 2
The Senate unanimously approved this effort to improve management of wild horses in the state. It requests the federal government to look at improving management of wild horse herds and to develop tourism programs at national wild horse territories and other wild horse ranges in the state.
Cyberhunting Blocked
A bill to ban computer-assisted hunting has passed both the Senate and the House and will soon be signed into law. New Mexico's Wild Friends did a great job of lobbying this bill and explaining what cyberhunting really is--remote killing of wildlife. SB 157 passed both chambers unanimously.
Spay-Neuter Funding
The House passed the junior budget bill, SB 414, with an amendment to include $400,000 for statewide spay-neuter programs. The bill now goes for Senate approval of the many changes made by the House. Money for addressing the dog and cat overpopulation crisis has wide support, so we are hopeful that the money will be contained in the final version of the bill.
SB 122 passed the House Judiciary Committee last night. The bill was the last heard by the committee and the only one they heard after their dinner break. A number of friendly-amendments were passed by the committee, mostly addressing language in the violations section the committee felt was too vague to be enforced.
These amendments mean that once the bill passes the full House, it needs to get concurance from the Senate on the changes made in the House. Before we get there, the bill must be addressed by House Appropriations and Finance Committee and the full House. It is a time crunch, considering the session ends on noon on Thursday...but not impossible!
Horses also made strides with SM 2
The Senate unanimously approved this effort to improve management of wild horses in the state. It requests the federal government to look at improving management of wild horse herds and to develop tourism programs at national wild horse territories and other wild horse ranges in the state.
Cyberhunting Blocked
A bill to ban computer-assisted hunting has passed both the Senate and the House and will soon be signed into law. New Mexico's Wild Friends did a great job of lobbying this bill and explaining what cyberhunting really is--remote killing of wildlife. SB 157 passed both chambers unanimously.
Spay-Neuter Funding
The House passed the junior budget bill, SB 414, with an amendment to include $400,000 for statewide spay-neuter programs. The bill now goes for Senate approval of the many changes made by the House. Money for addressing the dog and cat overpopulation crisis has wide support, so we are hopeful that the money will be contained in the final version of the bill.
