Richardson signs cockfighting ban into law

Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law Monday a statewide ban on cockfighting.

“Senate Bill 10 is fair and it is humane,” Richardson said. “I am proud that New Mexico will now move beyond cockfighting and join the 48 states that have already banned this outdated practice.”

The ban takes effect June 15.

In an interview, the sponsor of Senate Bill 10, Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, said the signing of the bill was one of the greatest moments of her life. She has fought for the ban for 18 years.

“I can’t believe that this is finally happening,” she said. “I’m so excited, and I’m shaking.”

Garcia said the elation she feels today is comparable to the day Richardson signed, in 2005, her bill that toughened penalties for child abuse resulting in death. That proposal followed the child-abuse deaths of seven children in Doña Ana County in a four-year period.

“It’s been a long, long drive, but we did it,” Garcia said of the cockfighting ban. “This year, I put my whole energy into this bill.”

The bill makes the first offense a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison. A second offense is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison, and further offenses are fourth-degree felonies punishable by up to 18 months in prison. Richardson’s signing of the bill makes Louisiana the only state that doesn’t outlaw cockfighting.

Richardson hasn’t always supported the ban. Until just before this session started, he refused to take a stance on the proposal. He said during a visit to Las Cruces last year that he didn’t feel strongly either way in the debate over cockfighting because there were more important issues on which he was focused.

That comment prompted Jay Leno to mock him on national television.

Richardson’s support for the ban came after he ran in his last election in New Mexico and just before he announced his presidential run, and followed some national pundits’ predictions that he couldn’t successfully run for president unless he supported the ban.

Regardless, Garcia said she’s just happy that it’s done.

“We’re well on our way to getting rid of this thing once and for all,” Garcia said.

Garcia and Richardson both thanked a number of people, including each other, for their help in pushing for the bill’s passage.

A prior version of this article incorrectly said the law would go into effect July 1.