Cockfighting ban heads to Senate floor

A bill that would outlaw cockfighting in New Mexico is headed to the Senate floor after the Judiciary Committee passed it this afternoon, but not without first making a change.

Senate Bill 10, sponsored by Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, was approved by a vote of 7-3.

As proposed by Garcia and passed last week by the Senate Conservation Committee, the bill made cockfighting a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison. As amended before today’s vote, the bill now makes cockfighting a misdemeanor on a first offense, punishable by less than one year in prison, and a fourth-degree felony after that.

Garcia took the amendment as friendly.