Ditches with Trails: A Victory on SB 486!!! (Dede Feldman's Trails Liability Bill)

[Lezle Williams]

From: Simon, Dave, EMNRD [mailto:dave....@state.nm.us]
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 10:36 AM
Subject: SB 486

 

SB 486 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a unanimous vote this morning!  A compromise amendment was placed on the bill that satisfied the trial lawyers and was acceptable to the bill sponsor (Sen. Feldman) and supporters.

 

The next stop for SB 486 is the Senate floor; a vote might occur as early as Tuesday, I suspect.  With a unanimous vote in Senate Judiciary, and the support of even Sen. Sanchez, I do not expect problems with the bill passing the Senate.

 

Sen. Feldman was terrific, of course, as she did not give up after last week's tie vote in the committee.  John Lee Thompson (who assists MRGCD at the Legislature), Les Houston (who assists the Village of Los Ranchos), Tom Horan (who assists the City of Albuquerque), and Peter Mallery (who helps represent the Trial Lawyers at the Legislature) all played positive, instrumental roles in breaking the logjam in the Judiciary committee and brokering a compromise that allowed the bill to move forward.

 

All the grassroots citizen support from Ditches With Trails, National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund, and other organizations also played a crucial role in reminding key senators on the committee of the importance of the bill and the public support for its objectives.

 

Judiciary Chairman Sen. Cisco McSorley, in particular, should be thanked, as should all the Democratic senators who wound up voting for the bill, including Sen. Grubesic (who made the motion for a "Do Pass"), Sen. Sanchez, Sen. Martinez and Sen. Rainaldi.  All the Republican senators voted for the bill again today, as they did last Friday, and should also be thanked.

 

Assuming--optimistically--that SB 486 will pass the Senate early next week, most of our efforts should start shifting to the House of Representatives.  Our task there will be both to get HB 445 (Rep. Gutierrez's bill which is a companion to SB 486) moving and to get SB 486 also moving through House committees. The session ends March 16, so we'll have about 3 weeks to get it all done.  I'll be back in touch early next week on what specific actions folks can take once we assess the situation with HB 445 and see to what House committees SB 486 gets referred to if/when it passes the Senate.

 

Thanks for everyone's support and efforts!  Strong teams succeed in these matters, rarely just individuals.

 

Dave

 

David J.Simon

Director, New Mexico State Parks

P.O. Box 1147

Santa Fe, NM  87504

505-476-3357 office

505-476-3361 fax

dave....@state.nm.us