HOUSE FLOOR SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE MEMORIAL 46

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS THE INCREASING THREAT TO LIVELIHOODS IN NEW MEXICO AND NEIGHBORING STATES FROM WILDLANDS REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE FEDERAL ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973.

     WHEREAS, many new regulations are increasingly restricting how property owners may use their land; and

     WHEREAS, many laws and regulations have placed a heavy burden on ranching, farming, timber production and other uses that property owners should have a right to conduct on their own land; and

     WHEREAS, federal regulations are too often developed without adequate participation and input from rural families; and

     WHEREAS, the severe adverse economic impacts of federal laws and regulations, notably the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and wildlands regulations, are affecting not only ranchers and farmers, but small businesses in rural communities that support ranching and farming and tax collections for local governments and the state;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the federal government be requested to take steps to ensure that property owners in New Mexico and neighboring states are protected from ill-considered laws and regulations that restrict land use and hamper people's ability to make a living and unnecessarily and adversely affect the economies of rural communities and local and state governments; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government develop a plan to compensate the full amount of loss to any property owner, business, local government and state that has a historical record of loss due to land use restrictions; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma congressional delegations and the federal secretaries of the interior and commerce.

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