We're mid-way through the 2025 Legislative Session, and we have many important updates to share about the status of our priority bills!
During this year's session, we've supported over a dozen climate, energy, and environmental justice bills, stood in solidarity with our community members as we've worked to advance legislation to expand democracy and justice in New Mexico, and fought back against dangerous false solutions with our movement allies and coalition partners.
This year, we're also witnessing continued attacks from an industry desperate to protect their profits, tired excuses from their paid lobbyists, and complicity from legislators who side with the same companies who are poisoning our air, polluting our water, and threatening our futures. You can learn more about how we're fighting back against big oil and gas by watching our video below and reading YUCCA Policy Campaign Manager Ennedith López's recent interview with Capital and Main!
Read on to learn more about the status of the bills YUCCA is supporting this session, opportunities to join us for more information, and how to get involved to make your voice heard!
JOIN US NEXT WEEK FOR A VIRTUAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE!
From committee hearings, to floor votes, to public comment, we know that it can be difficult to keep up with the over 2 dozen bills we're supporting to advance climate justice, protect our environment, and support our communities across New Mexico!
Next week, make sure to join us online via Zoom for a mid-session legislative update with YUCCA's Policy Campaign Manager Ennedith López!
During this virtual update, we'll take a deep dive into where our priority bills stand this session, how we're fighting back to oppose dangerous false solutions, how you can make your voice heard in the Legislature, and how our work to advocate for meaningful bills during the 2025 Session is interconnected with YUCCA's long-term demands and the progress of our collective movement. You can join us on Zoom on Monday, March 3rd at 5:30 pm MT by registering at the link below!
YUCCA'S 2025 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
YUCCA's policy platform is based on the belief that we must act quickly to advance policies that end our dependence on fossil fuel extraction, invest in just transition planning, keep fossil fuels in the ground, promote and invest in renewable energy, and expand democracy and justice.
Read on to learn more about the specific bills we're supporting (and the false solutions we're opposing) during the 2025 Legislative Session!
Just Transition Legislation
S.B. 48 and S.B. 49 - The Community Benefit Fund and Community Benefit Fund Transfers: These bills are a reflection of our call to establish a just transition fund to support planning and investment in alternatives to our dependence on extractive processes. They would make a critical investment in renewable energy projects, energy efficiency initiatives, and worker training programs while helping to bring our communities the resources to prioritize climate resilience, impact mitigation, and infrastructure upgrades. (S.B. 48 has passed the Senate Floor and is awaiting introduction in the House. S.B. 49 is waiting to be heard by the Senate Finance Committee).
S.B. 23 - Oil and Gas Royalty Rate Changes: S.B. 23 would generate billions of additional dollars for our public schools, hospitals, and universities by setting a new royalty rate for “premium” parcels of state land trust leased in the most productive oil and gas area in the broader Permian Basin, allowing the State Land Office to charge a top royalty rate of between 20-25%, a rate already demanded by Texas and private landowners. (Passed the Senate Floor; awaiting a hearing in the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee)
Hold Polluters Accountable
H.B. 222 - Chemical Transparency in Oil & Gas to Protect Water & Health from PFAS: H.B. 222 would play a critical role in protecting New Mexico’s waters and communities from the impacts of PFAS – dangerous forever chemicals that persist indefinitely in the environment – by banning the use of PFAS in oil and gas operations and prohibiting the use of undisclosed chemicals. (Will be heard in the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee tomorrow, February 27th)
H.B. 257 - Oil and Gas Transfer Rulemaking: H.B. 257 strengthens accountability in the oil and gas industry by preventing the transfer of wells to financially unstable operators, ensuring that companies with a history of violations cannot offload their liabilities, and protecting taxpayers from bearing the costs of abandoned well cleanup.
H.B. 34 - Oil Conservation Protect Health & Environment: H.B. 34 would change just 5 words in the Oil and Gas Act to require that the Oil Conservation Division – which is tasked with overseeing oil and gas in New Mexico – consider human health and the environment in their decision-making processes surrounding oil and gas permitting across the state. (Tabled in the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee).
Community Clean-Up Legislation
S.B. 178 - Produced Water and Abandoned Wells Fund: S.B. 178 would restrict the reuse of “produced water” (toxic fracking waste) outside the oilfield and impose a fee of 0.05 cents per barrel of fracking waste to fund the plugging and remediation of abandoned wells. (Passed the Senate Conservation Committee; awaiting its next hearing in the Senate Finance Committee).
Emissions Reduction Legislation
S.B. 4 - The Clear Horizons Act: S.B. 4 is a reflection of YUCCA’s long-standing call to establish real and direct emissions reduction targets that would hold industry accountable while supporting a just transition to renewable energy for New Mexico. Despite our support for the bill, YUCCA also stands in solidarity with our movement allies in the No False Solutions Coalition in our concerns surrounding the inclusion of net zero language in the bill - which opens the door for the potential use of harmful tactics such as hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration. (Tabled in the Senate Finance Committee).
S.B. 99 - No Fuel Less-Than-Zero Carbon Intensity: S.B. 99 helps to ensure that no transportation fuel in New Mexico is falsely credited with having a negative carbon intensity. This bill represents a common-sense step toward strengthening our state’s climate policy with critical guardrails, helping to prevent industry greenwashing of negative carbon credits, ensuring our climate policies are based on real science, and achieving true emissions reductions. (Tabled in the Senate Conservation Committee).
Protect New Mexico's Young People
Photo Credit: Josue Rivas
H.B. 35 - Children's Health Protection Zones: H.B. 35 would help to protect young people across New Mexico from the dangerous health impacts of oil and gas pollution by establishing 1-mile health protection zones surrounding schools, prohibiting the construction of new oil and gas wells within these zones, and implementing additional pollution controls, monitoring, and reporting for operators of existing oil and gas facilities within the buffer zones. (Passed the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee and the House Health & Human Services Committee; awaiting its next hearing in the House Judiciary Committee).
H.B. 32 - The School Bus Modernization Act: H.B. 32 and the accompanying funding in S.B. 49 would help to make electric school buses available and affordable to every New Mexico school district, producing fewer emissions, enabling quieter rides, and saving our school districts between $8,000-15,000 per bus every school year. (Passed out of committee; awaiting a vote on the House Floor)
Addressing the Public Health Impacts of Climate Change
H.B. 108 - State Climate Health Program: H.B. 108 establishes a State Climate Health Program within the Department of Health, allocating $1.1 million to strengthen capacity, improve interagency collaboration, develop culturally appropriate health education and warning systems, provide training and technical assistance, and enhance community engagement to address the growing health impacts of climate change. (Passed the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee; awaiting its next hearing in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee)
H.B. 109 - Extreme Weather Resilience Fund: H.B. 109 establishes the $12 million Extreme Weather Resilience Fund to help local and Tribal communities prepare for and respond to climate-driven public health emergencies, prioritizing at least 50% of funding for small communities and providing grants of up to $1 million to support proactive disaster resilience efforts. (Passed the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee; awaiting a hearing in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee)
Protect Our Waters
H.B. 92 - Water Quality Construction Projects Funding: H.B. 92 would help to support New Mexico’s water future by making a $10 million investment in river, stream, and wetland restoration – improving water quality, restoring habitats, and building resilience against extreme weather events like flooding and prolonged drought. (Passed the House Agriculture, Acequias & Water Resources Committee; awaiting a hearing in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee)
S.B. 21 - The Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act: S.B. 21 would give the state authority to take over permitting from the EPA for waters that remain federally protected, helping to safeguard our waters from pollution. (Passed committee; awaiting a vote on the Senate Floor)
S.B. 22 - Water Quality and Pollution: S.B. 22 would strengthen New Mexico’s ability to prevent contamination, hold polluters accountable, and invest in long-term water protection by creating a permitting program to protect state waters that are not currently federally protected. (Substituted)
S.B. 29 - Water Project Fund Appropriation: S.B. 29 would make an essential investment in our water security by appropriating $222 million to the Water Project Fund to ensure that funding is available to repair, upgrade, and build the infrastructure necessary to protect our state’s most precious resource. (Passed the Senate Conservation Committee; awaiting a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee).
Advance Energy Justice
H.B. 128 - The Local Solar Access Fund: The Local Solar Access Fund is a proposed grant fund at the New Mexico Finance Authority, which will issue both planning and implementation grants to Tribes, Counties, Municipalities, School Districts, and Land Grants for solar and storage projects to power public buildings like community centers, libraries, schools, and fire stations, and infrastructure like water, wastewater, and street lighting. (Passed the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee; will be heard today in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee)
H.B. 91 - Public Utility Rate Structures: H.B. 91 takes an important step toward energy justice by allowing for the creation of additional utility rate structures that reduce the burden of high energy costs on low-income customers, prevent utility debt from becoming a permanent crisis, and promote affordability and continuity of service. (Passed the House Floor; awaiting introduction in the Senate)
FIGHTING BACK AGAINST FALSE SOLUTIONS
In addition to supporting meaningful environmental and climate justice legislation, we're also fighting back against dangerous false solutions that would do nothing but endanger our environment and communities while propping up the same industry that is destroying our land, polluting our waters, and threatening our future. These bills include:
H.B. 311 - The Reclaimed Water Act: The Reclaimed Water Act is an attempt to make an end run around the Water Quality Act and the Water Quality Control Commission by moving the regulation of so-called "Reclaimed" Produced Water outside normal oversight. This bill would remove any guardrails put on reuse of produced water from the Water Quality Control Commission. (Passed the House Agriculture, Acequias & Water Resources Committee; awaiting hearing in the House Judiciary Committee)
H.B. 137 - The Strategic Water Supply Act: When H.B. 137 was initially introduced, it sought to expand the use of "produced water" (toxic fracking waste) outside the oilfield. Thanks to the collective work of our movement, the committee substitute for H.B. 137 no longer includes any funding for produced water reuse! However, we remain concerned about this bill due to its inclusion of brackish water desalination, and we will continue to call for critical amendments to H.B. 137. (Passed the House Agriculture, Acequias & Water Resources Committee and House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee; awaiting hearing in the House Appropriations & Finance Committee)
H.B. 19 - The Trade Ports Development Act: While H.B. 19 was introduced under the guise of economic development, we are worried that this bill would continue our state’s investment in outdated industrial expansion while opening the door for the potential establishment of hydrogen transportation corridors – and we know that previous iterations of public–private partnership bills have been within the pursuit of hydrogen energy development. (Passed the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee and the House Taxation and Revenue Committee)
EXPANDING DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE IN NEW MEXICO!
As we stand in solidarity with our movement allies, YUCCA is also proud to support meaningful bills that would expand democracy and justice for community members across our state. These bills include:
H.B. 11 - The Paid Family and Medical Leave Act: H.B. 11 would provide employees with up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement for leave, providing workers the resources they need to step away to care for a family member, manage a medical condition, support a new child, seek help from domestic violence and abuse, or grieve the loss of a loved one. (Passed committee; awaiting House Floor vote)
H.B. 169 - The Public Expression Protection Act: H.B. 169 would help to safeguard our first amendment rights by protecting those who speak up against a company, politician, or public entity from SLAPP Suits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). These lawsuits are frequently used in an attempt to silence the public and intimidate us from making our voices heard. (Passed committee; placed on House Temporary Calendar)
S.B. 36 - Sensitive Personal Information Non-Disclosure Act: S.B. 36 would help to support our immigrant communities during a time of increasing attacks at the federal level, helping to keep our private information out of the hands of for-profit data brokers and ICE. (Passed the Senate Floor; awaiting hearing in the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee)
S.B. 41 - The Turquoise Alert System: S.B. 41 would create an alert system to notify the public when Indigenous people go missing, helping our communities to better support one another during times of crisis. (Awaiting hearing in the Senate Tax, Business & Transportation Committee)
S.B. 216 - Rent Control and Certain Entities: S.B. 216 would end the prohibition on rent control and expand the democratic rights of all New Mexicans through this important and necessary option as rents continue to spike. (Awaiting its first hearing in the Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee)
EAGER TO SUPPORT OUR PRIORITY BILLS? SIGN UP FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERTS!
As many of our priority bills continue to advance through the legislative process, it's not too late to make your voice heard during the 2025 Legislative Session!
If you're eager to get involved to help us pass meaningful legislation and fight back against bad bills that would endanger the health and wellbeing of our communities and environment, you can take action today by signing up for our Legislative Action Alerts below!
Once you've signed up, you'll receive an email from us each day with time-sensitive advocacy opportunities, updates on the bills we're fighting to pass, and resources to help you engage with the legislative process! With just under a month left in the 2025 Legislative Session, our Action Alerts are a great way to stay in the loop on the action and make your voice heard.
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