{"id":1392,"date":"2007-03-12T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-12T19:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/richardson-signs-cockfighting-ban-into-law\/"},"modified":"2007-03-12T13:29:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-12T19:29:00","slug":"richardson-signs-cockfighting-ban-into-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/richardson-signs-cockfighting-ban-into-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson signs cockfighting ban into law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> signed into law Monday a statewide ban on cockfighting. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSenate Bill 10 is fair and it is humane,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cI am proud that New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> will now move beyond cockfighting and join the 48 states that have already banned this outdated practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

The ban takes effect June 15.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an interview, the sponsor of Senate Bill 10<\/a>, Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a 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.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe that this is finally happening,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m so excited, and I\u2019m shaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Garcia said the elation she feels today is comparable to the day Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> 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 Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> in a four-year period.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long, long drive, but we did it,\u201d Garcia said of the cockfighting ban. \u201cThis year, I put my whole energy into this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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. Ric<\/st1:city>hardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s signing of the bill makes Louisiana<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> the only state that doesn\u2019t outlaw cockfighting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> hasn\u2019t 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\u2019t feel strongly either way in the debate over cockfighting because there were more important issues on which he was focused.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That comment prompted Jay Leno<\/a> to mock him on national television.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s support for the ban came after he ran in his last election in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and just before he announced his presidential run, and followed some national pundits\u2019 predictions that he couldn\u2019t successfully run for president unless he supported the ban.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Regardless, Garcia said she\u2019s just happy that it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well on our way to getting rid of this thing once and for all,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Garcia and Richardson both thanked a number of people, including each other, for their help in pushing for the bill\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n

\n

A prior version of this article incorrectly said the law would go into effect July 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law Monday a statewide ban on cockfighting. \u201cSenate Bill 10 is fair and it is humane,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cI am proud that New Mexico will now move beyond cockfighting and join the 48 states that have already banned this outdated practice.\u201d The ban takes effect June 15. In an interview, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}