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Fight Cancelled!
The first bill to outlaw cockfighting was introduced back in the 1970’s by John Lee Thompson. Since then, numerous legislators have carried the bill, and among them was Senator Mary Jane Garcia (D-Doña Ana). In her first legislative session, she introduced a bill to ban cockfighting but was taunted and ridiculed on the Senate floor by adversaries so much that she dropped the bill.
Now, eighteen years later and having introduced a bill to ban cockfighting almost every 60-day legislative session since her freshman year, she found that a ban against the cruel killing of roosters for illegal gambling wins was finally taken seriously in 2007.
Proponents of the ban, both legislative and citizen alike, have worked tenaciously for many years to pass a ban but this year, two very important and unprecedented supporters spoke out and tipped the scale in the roosters’ favor. On December 27, 2006, Governor Bill Richardson held a press conference where he announced that not only would he support a ban on cockfighting, but that he would actively try and make it law. The Governor then kept the spotlight on banning cockfighting as he included it as a priority in his State of the State address on the opening day of the 2007 legislative session.
The second boost the ban received was from the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops when they announced that they supported a ban stating, “The Bishops recognize that cockfighting is abusive of God's good creation and is not a cultural treasure. Cockfighting promotes violence."
Despite the new support, when Senator Garcia introduced SB10, an Act to Prohibit Cockfighting, on January 17, 2007, the bill was on an uphill climb when it was assigned to the Senate Conservation Committee for its first hearing. In years past, this committee typically tables the bill, thereby “killing” the bill for the duration of the session.
However, SB10 made history on February 1st when it passed five to three in the Senate Conservation Committee after persuasive testimony from outstanding public figures and state offices including Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, Executive Director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, Allen Sanchez, President of the Southwest Center for Culture, Arturo Sandoval, New York Times Bestselling novelist, Alisa Rodriguez Valdes, the New Mexico Department of Economic Development and the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. SB10 then was given a “Do Pass” by the Senate Judiciary by a vote of 7-3 on February 5th and on February 8th, after almost 5 1/2 grueling hours of debate and three successful amendments that weakened the bill by Senators Phil Griego and Rod Adair, a final vote on the Senate floor resulted in 31 Senators supporting the ban and 11 Senators voting against it.
On February 24th, the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee passed SB10 by a vote of 6-1 and amended the bill to fix a technical error from one of the Senate floor amendments, followed by a vote of 9-1 on February 26th by the House Judiciary Committee.
The House floor vote took place on March 8, 2007 with 49 votes for the ban and 20 votes against. The bill then had to make a quick stop back in the Senate for concurrence on the House amendment, which was successful.
At the beginning of this historic session, Animal Protection Voters asked the question, “Will the fight go on?” and the New Mexico citizens, the legislature and the Governor answered a resounding, “No!” and on March 12, 2007, Governor Bill Richardson signed the Senate Bill 10 making the barbaric activity of cockfighting illegal in the State of New Mexico, stating, “It’s history.” Upon its final passage, the bill carried penalties of a petty misdemeanor for the first offense, a misdemeanor for the second offense and a fourth degree felony for the third and subsequent offenses and no penalties for spectatorship at cockfights.
Animal Protection Voters thanks all those that have fought to protect roosters from the horrible cruelty they have suffered at the hands of those who claimed to cherish them. We are deeply grateful to SB10’s sponsors this year Senator Mary Jane Garcia and Representative Peter Wirth for all the tremendous work they have put into this bill over the years to get it passed. New Mexico is truly taking a new course in adopting humane laws that reflect the values of its citizens and making this the “Land of Enchantment” for both two-legged and four-legged animals alike.
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