The state Senate is currently debating a proposed ban on cockfighting. Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune is blogging live from the hearing, giving us a way to keep up with the action despite the fact that funding that was approved last year to Webcast legislative action hasn’t led to such debates actually being broadcast on the Internet.
Senate Bill 10, sponsored by Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, has been subject over the course of several hours today to a multitude of attempts to kill or neuter it. The only proposed amendment that has been approved is one that makes cockfighting a petty misdemeanor on a first offense.
The bill previously made it a misdemeanor, with a maximum prison sentence of 364 days. Petty misdemeanors carry half that prison time.
The bill would now make it a misdemeanor on a second offense and a felony – with a maximum of 18 months in prison – on a third or subsequent offense. The bill originally made it a felony on the first offense, but was amended earlier this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
I’ll have an update as soon as the vote takes place, or you can follow along on Nash’s blog at the above link.
A prior version of this posting did not correctly characterize the amendment that made the first offense a petty misdemeanor.