Utah and New Mexico 2025 Legislative Recap

Each year WRA works hard to advance our climate goals on the state level.  

In an increasingly uncertain federal environment, state level action is the key to seeing real change and progress on climate.  

WRA has been working at state legislatures all throughout 2025 to bring forward proactive policies that fight climate change and its impacts.  We’ve also defended against anything that could hold us back from the future we want for our region. 

Two of our states with the shortest legislative sessions are Utah and New Mexico.  

...

In 2025 New Mexico had a 60 day session while Utah had a 45 day session.  In both states we saw a variety of wins and opportunities for success in the future.

We sat down with some of WRA’s policy and government affairs staff to understand what our goals were and what some of our biggest wins were in those states.  

On this episode of Two Degrees out West: How did Utah and New Mexico do on Climate in the 2025 legislative session? 

2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming.

2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West.

On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home.

It is Hosted by Dave Papineau

Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West?

• Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org.
• Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram.
• Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes.
• Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West.
• ...

Chapters

• 0:02 Intro
• 1:18 Utah Intro
• 2:11 Utah's Short Session
• 3:19 Utah's Wins
• 8:05 Clean Truck Funding
• 10:55 Looking Forward
• 13:04 New Mexico Intro
• 14:22 Game and Fish Reform
• 21:11 How New Mexico Protected Water
• 24:06 Strategic Water Reserve
• 25:42 Outdoor Equity Wins
• 31:13 Defensive Wins in New Mexico
• 35:18 Outro and Sponsors

Transcript

DRAFT NM and UT Recap

[00:00:00] Dave Papineau: Each year, WRA works hard to advance our climate goals at the state level. In an increasingly uncertain federal environment, state level action is the key to seeing real change and progress on climate. WRA has been working at state legislatures throughout 2025 to bring forward proactive policies that fight climate change and its impacts.

[00:00:19] We've also defended against anything that could hold us back from the future we want for our region. Two of our states with the shortest legislative sessions are Utah and New Mexico. In 2025, New Mexico had a 60 day session while Utah had a 45 day session. In both states, we saw a variety of wins and opportunities for success in the future.

[00:00:39] I sat down with some of W's policy and government affairs staff to understand what our goals were and what some of our biggest wins were in those states. On this episode of Two Degrees Out West, how did Utah and New Mexico do on climate in the 2025 legislative session? I. Welcome to Two Degrees Out West, a podcast for [00:01:00] advocates and decision makers seeking solutions to climate change and its impacts around the West on two degrees out west.

[00:01:06] We talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you the stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. On today's episode, Utah and New Mexico's legislative sessions recapped.

[00:01:21] Riley Wheeler: I am Riley Wheeler. I work as the government affairs manager specifically for the state of Utah.

[00:01:27] Dave Papineau: As a government affairs manager, Riley is intricately involved in all things related to WRA and the Utah state legislature. 

[00:01:34] Riley Wheeler: Main things that I do is I work with our clean energy team based in Utah as well as the other teams, and make sure that we have representation within the state government, whether it's the legislature or.

[00:01:47] Within state agencies as a whole, I represent WRA on their behalf, so to speak, and work on specific legislation work to lobby on certain issues and also just work as a general advocate for all [00:02:00] environmental issues up on the hill. 

[00:02:01] Dave Papineau: One thing about Utah, the short 45 day session provides an extra level of urgency and challenge for organizations like WRA.

[00:02:09] Riley explained some of the challenges associated with the short. Session and how WRA worked to navigate it to advance our climate goals. 

[00:02:17] Riley Wheeler: 45 days. Yeah, it's a, it is a dead sprint. They start the session and, like we have interim sessions like, committee meetings usually each month leading up to it.

[00:02:26] So usually there's a handful of bills that have already been like, pre-approved by the committees and legislature going into it. But, the moment that the session starts, that's just when we start seeing bill, after bill show up and, it. It's very much drinking from a water hose for 45 days, especially because it's like amidst all of that, they're also trying to get a budget put in place and they're trying to accomplish a lot of.

[00:02:48] A lot of other things. And every year, the government, like the governor has a specific goal. The speaker of the house has a specific goal, and the senate president has a specific goal. Sometimes they align, sometimes they don't. And [00:03:00] yeah, sometimes like that last week of the session can get really messy because you've got three competing agendas trying to run things through.

[00:03:07] But yeah, considering how short things were, we were able to get quite a bit done. And it's something that we definitely are happy about. 

[00:03:14] Dave Papineau: Riley explained some of the things WA was after in the 2025 session, he said that the Utah session had both wins and losses for the climate. 

[00:03:23] Riley Wheeler: For sure. Yeah. I had a.

[00:03:25] Front row seat to be able to see it all go down, so to speak. The legislative session as a whole was a bit of a mixed bag. There was a lot of focus within the media on certain issues, on certain bills. When it came to environmental issues, we knew that in particular, energy issues we're gonna be at the top of the board for priority issues, especially with legislative leadership.

[00:03:44] We did see a lot of bad bills. That showed up. Some of them did pass, others of them didn't pass. We also saw some good ones in there as well, though we had a good mix. And so overall we feel like we were able to find success within the session. We were able to achieve what we wanted to [00:04:00] do, but obviously sometimes our, sometimes it's a little difficult to make things work in Utah.

[00:04:04] And so we definitely had a couple of setbacks along the way as well. Our key priorities, we really had two. Things we're focusing on going into session. The first, which I imagine we'll probably talk more on, is securing the funding for the Clean Truck Incentive Program from the Department of Transportation.

[00:04:22] And then the second was being prepared to fight against bad energy bills and working with our coalition partners to make sure we had effective messaging When those bills came out, 

[00:04:32] Dave Papineau: I asked Reily what some of the most notable successes were for WRA in 2025. 

[00:04:37] Riley Wheeler: Yeah we, we had a few areas we were able to find some success during this session.

[00:04:41] The first one actually had nothing to do with clean energy and was a bill that actually caught us a bit by surprise, which was HB 2 74. That one was a water conservation bill, that it's gonna allow for tiered rates to be charged for both residential as well as secondary or like irrigation water beginning in [00:05:00] 2030.

[00:05:00] And it also will allow for water conservancy districts and cities to allow for water conservation to be considered when they're setting their rates for water. And so that was something that the Healthy Rivers team was really focused on. It was part of their goals for, the future. And Utah was ahead of the curve in that way, and ran and passed a bill and got that through.

[00:05:22] So that was definitely a win that we saw within the session. Another one that we found more on the defensive end was a bill that was in regards to banning solar power plants on agricultural land as well as on like endangered species land. And that was in a bill called h HP 2 41. In its original form it would've been an all out ban of solar in those areas and also had like very specific setback requirements and regulations that would've had a lot of.

[00:05:51] Done a lot of damage to the solar industry as a whole. We had a large coalition that specifically worked on this bill ranging from, us and other enviro groups to [00:06:00] also, local associations and farming associations who wanted to be able to make sure they still had their land rights.

[00:06:06] And we were able to initially accomplish a substitute of the bill that got rid of the band language. But ultimately we ended up finding success in the fact that the bill didn't pass at all. Luckily there. Is no ban in place for solar plants in the future? We don't know if this is gonna be a bill we'll have to deal with next year, but for now we're feeling like we're in a good spot there.

[00:06:28] The third that I already mentioned was specifically in regards to the Clean Trucks funding. This is the Clean Trucks Incentive Program. This is really the culmination of two years worth of work that WRA has been doing. The work that we did during this session really was all about just securing the funding.

[00:06:43] This was money that was already in the hands of the Utah Department of Transportation, and we needed to get it. Transferred over to the division of their quality, which required the legislature to provide approval for in, in their budget itself. And so that was really our goal. That [00:07:00] was our focus.

[00:07:00] We were able to successfully do that, which I. Ended up being a little bit more difficult than we anticipated it was gonna be. The state had a smaller budget that they were running this year to begin with. There were a lot of things that didn't get funded, but we were successful in being able to get this push through, which will allow for that incentive to move forward.

[00:07:17] And a lot of credit for that really belongs to the electric vehicles team that we have particular, my predecessor Nick sc and as well as as well as Deb for getting the ball rolling there. So we're definitely happy with the things we were able to accomplish.

[00:07:32] Dave Papineau: Riley mentioned W'S work to secure funding for Utah's clean track incentive. He went into more detail on what that entailed and how that is going to benefit Utah going forward. 

[00:07:43] Riley Wheeler: The Clean Truck Incentive is gonna allow for the division of air quality to provide financial incentives for businesses, schools, and like local governments to be able to switch from their like heavy duty fossil fuel trucks to trucks that are zero emissions.

[00:07:57] So like electric trucks. And. [00:08:00] Specifically those incentives will be, provided generally via like financial grants, so to speak, to help reduce the amount that they're going to have to pay. The one thing that always. Comes up when we talk about the concept of switching to electric vehicles and in particular electric trucks, is that the initial cost is pretty significant.

[00:08:19] We're talking about six figure type purchases. And so being able to have those specific incentives and those grants in place is going to allow certain industries and certain businesses that may not have been able to switch over right now and might've had to wait further down the line to be able to switch to electric to be able to do it sooner.

[00:08:38] So that, that's a big win because we know that when it comes to the air pollution in Utah, when it comes to air quality, so much of what the emissions that we have is due to the cars that are on the road and are driving down I 15 every day. So everything that we can do to try to reduce that is going to be a big win.

[00:08:58] The funding is [00:09:00] also, it's the way that we set it up also is a big win. So half of the money that. Is in this allocation actually is available for the division of error quality. Immediately once the governor signs the bill that it's in, which was HB three he happened to sign that on March 27th.

[00:09:16] So like that allocation specifically has already been made available to them. And so that's something that they can take advantage of immediately. 

[00:09:24] Dave Papineau: Re says that clean truck funding is a multifaceted whip. Anyone who has spent a winter in Salt Lake City is likely aware of the significant air quality issues the area can suffer from.

[00:09:34] Not only does this legislation help reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with combustion vehicles, it also helps address the air quality issues. Utah often suffers from 

[00:09:44] Riley Wheeler: usually almost every year when we get. The emissions reports, one of the main focuses is always the amount of cars that we have on the road in Utah and on the freeway.

[00:09:53] So the more that we can do to help businesses and other entities be able to switch to these zero emission vehicles the better [00:10:00] off we are going to be in the future here as a state 

[00:10:04] Dave Papineau: going forward. Riley says, WRA's goals include a variety of things like protecting our clean energy gains and defending Utah's public lands.

[00:10:12] Riley Wheeler: We did have a couple of bills that did pass that, we moved in the direction of favoring fossil fuels when it comes to clean energy sources the issues around coal and gas. And so there's gonna be more defensive work that we're gonna have to do there in the upcoming sessions, but we're also looking for opportunities to be proactive.

[00:10:32] Especially going into the next session, there's still plenty of opportunities for us to pass meaningful legislation when it comes potentially to electric vehicles. There's also opportunities for us to do things on the water and also on the western land side of things. The concept of the state managing federal lands is a big issue in Utah right now.

[00:10:52] It's something that didn't come up super heavily during the session itself, but it's something they've been involved in and I imagine we will be pretty heavily [00:11:00] involved on that front to make sure that we are protecting those lands in future legislative sessions. Overall I feel like we are in a good place.

[00:11:08] Moving forward we do have opportunities. It is difficult because in Utah we are in a conservative area. This is a conservative state. And sometimes the type of legislation that we wanna run, the type of policies that we want are going to be, ones that aren't necessarily in favor of what the caucus itself is in favor of, but I do believe that we're going to be able to find opportunities to continue to move forward here and find success.

[00:11:34] There, there were definitely some good bills we were able to see pass and, we're I'm definitely grateful for the role that WRA was able to play in being able to accomplish the things that we were this session. And I'm really looking forward to being able to continue to.

[00:11:49] Find those opportunities to, to work with the legislators that, that we work with and to find success. So yeah, that's about all I got.[00:12:00] 

[00:12:08] Dave Papineau: After hearing about Utah, I had a conversation with two of WRA's New Mexico staff members. 

[00:12:13] Tammy Fiebelkorn: I'm Tammy Fiebelkorn . I am the New Mexico Government Affairs manager. 

[00:12:17] Dave Papineau: She interacts with government officials and regulatory staff on behalf of WRA 

[00:12:23] Tammy Fiebelkorn: have been doing this for quite some time. This was my 23rd session.

[00:12:27] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: And I'm Brittany Fallon, the policy manager with the Western Lands team. 

[00:12:31] Dave Papineau: Brittany works to help develop and implement policy that will protect Western lands and wildlife. Tammy and Brittany have been very involved in WA a's work in the New Mexico legislature. They were both instrumental in WRA's WINS in 2025.

[00:12:46] Tammy explained some of our goals this year. 

[00:12:49] Tammy Fiebelkorn: WRA had quite a few priorities going into this legislative session. Our number one priority was of course, the reform of our game commission. That Brittany worked on for [00:13:00] several years. We also had a strategic water reserve bill through our waters team.

[00:13:05] And then we had a couple of energy priorities including grid enhancing technologies and low income utility rates in addition to a big comprehensive climate suite of bills. And so we had a lot going on, but our number one priority was getting our wildlife commission up and going. 

[00:13:25] Dave Papineau: More than 45% of New Mexico's land is publicly owned and the state is home to strong hunting and fishing traditions reliant on a thriving wildlife population.

[00:13:36] Protecting those lands, wildlife, and traditions. Were at the top of RA's list. 

[00:13:40] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: The Western Lands team had a couple priorities this year, the largest of which was the game commission and game department reform bill, Senate Bill five. We also worked on. Legislation to protect New Mexico waters from the Supreme Court's rollback of the Clean Water Act.

[00:13:59] And we [00:14:00] also tried to establish a new state park and get additional funding for the New Mexico Outdoor Equity Fund. 

[00:14:08] Dave Papineau: SB five, New Mexico Game and Fish Reform, as Brittany mentioned, was one of RA's top priorities for 2025 in New Mexico. She explained what the legislative win looks like and some of the work that she.

[00:14:20] And her team and our coalition have all put into it. 

[00:14:24] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: This is a piece of legislation that has literally been 15 years in the making. The first meeting that our colleague organizations had about game commission reform happened 15 years ago, and in that time there's been over 10 pieces of legislation.

[00:14:41] That addressed different parts of the package that we worked on this year. 

[00:14:46] Dave Papineau: The core issue in New Mexico is that the Department of Game and Fish didn't have the tools, authority or funding to actually manage the state's wildlife. Brittany explained how this bill addressed that. 

[00:14:58] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: So this year we [00:15:00] had a big package that, again, 15 years in the making that did three things.

[00:15:06] It reformed the state game commission, which is a body that has been overly politicized and is not staffed with wildlife experts. It's been staffed with people like car salesmen and oil and gas lobbyists, who are then making decisions about our state's wildlife that belong to the public. The second part of the bill reformed the game department itself to shift their focus to working on all wildlife, which is.

[00:15:34] What they do now, they're called the Game and Fish Department. Because of this legislation, they'll be called the Department of Wildlife, and they do work on all wildlife. But their statutory authority was lacking in clarity to make it clear that they do, in fact, have the legal authority to do the work that they're already doing.

[00:15:54] And then the third part of the package was increasing hunting and fishing licenses, which haven't been [00:16:00] increased in 20 years. And that is one of the predominant sources of revenue that not only New Mexico's game department, but also wildlife agencies all across the country use to do work on all wildlife.

[00:16:13] What we accomplished was almost all of that this bill passed and was signed. Unfortunately, the governor did partially veto the legislation to. Cut the part of the bill that shed sunshine. And transparency on the removal of commissioners. Right now, a governor can remove a game commissioner for any reason at any time, and they don't have to say why.

[00:16:42] And that's been a problem for a long time in New Mexico, and we've seen the last three governor from both political parties kick off commissioners. Political reasons, or sometimes for reasons that are just unknown, because they don't have to tell us why they do that. Our [00:17:00] bill would have required a public process for removal, which is something that many other boards and commissions in New Mexico already have.

[00:17:08] That would have required public participation so that. Someone that is representing the public in a public body that makes decisions about wildlife in the public trust can be held accountable to the public for why they are being kicked off. And unfortunately, she vetoed that language, which was a huge disappointment after well over a year of negotiating this legislation with her office.

[00:17:35] Dave Papineau: Despite the partial veto, SB five represents a foundational win for New Mexico. 

[00:17:41] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: There's no doubt that even with the partial veto, this legislation is going to change wildlife management in New Mexico forever. The biggest win in my mind is requiring game commissioners to have expertise. As I mentioned before, we've [00:18:00] had game commissioners that have been oil and gas lobbyists that have been prominent car salesmen.

[00:18:04] We have no requirements that they know anything about wildlife at all or anything about science at all. And now because of this legislation, I. There are extensive requirements for expertise in serving on the commission. There's a scientist position, a conservation position, a farmer rancher position, a tribal member and.

[00:18:28] Requiring seats like that is one way that we can ensure transparency in expertise in specific areas that the commission represents. We also added in legislative oversight to the game commission requiring a nominating committee staffed of. Legislature and the governor appoint together to applications for game commissioners to ensure that they do have expertise that we're requiring.

[00:18:56] And it also allows some public input into that process, which [00:19:00] right now appointments happen behind closed doors, and we don't get any say in who's representing us. If this bill is enacted, we don't fix the removal process. The partially veto bill stands, the next governor could remove a commissioner for reasons of incompetence, neglect of duty, or malfeasance, but they don't have to prove that the Commissioner did any of those things.

[00:19:25] They don't. To explain to the public why they're removing this commissioner. They don't even have to issue a letter saying what the commissioner did. So that's a big problem. And it also means that a bad governor could sweep an entire commission and claim it was due to incompetence and not have to prove it.

[00:19:45] And one of the number one things we were trying to do was. Pen commission from governor to governor because wildlife is not political and [00:20:00] science is not political, and our wildlife decision should not be based on politics, should be based in science. 

[00:20:09] Dave Papineau: Game commission reform is a monumental win, but it's not the only win New Mexico saw to protect their land, air, and water.

[00:20:16] The state also stepped up to protect water that was at risk to federal rollbacks. 

[00:20:22] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: One of the biggest wins in this legislature that WA didn't lead on, but we heavily supported, was a bill to create a state surface water permitting program. Which sounds so wonky I know, but the simple version of it is under the previous Trump administration, the Supreme Court rolled back the Bedrock Environmental Law, clean Water Act.

[00:20:48] The 

[00:20:48] Dave Papineau: US Supreme Court's SACKET versus EPA decision in 2023 narrowed the definition of which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. It broke historical precedent in this new, narrower [00:21:00] definition of protected waters removed protection for wetlands in ephemeral streams overnight. It is especially concerning for the West and for New Mexico.

[00:21:07] Many of the waters that Western communities and ecosystems depend on are ephemeral. By enacting state level street protections like we did in Colorado, WRA can help patch up the holes in protections for these waters. 

[00:21:20] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: And they rolled it back in such a way that protections we've enjoyed since before I was born no longer apply to many waters in the United States and New Mexico was particularly impacted by this with.

[00:21:36] Percent of our state waters losing all protections that were afforded by the Clean Water Act WRA. And our colleagues have for several years now, been working hand in hand with the New Mexico Environment Department to move toward taking over the permitting that the federal government used to do and no longer is doing because of the Supreme Court.[00:22:00] 

[00:22:01] We started several years ago getting the department funding to start doing research into how to stand up a state program. We increased that effort with additional funding. After that, we worked with them on drafting this legislation, and then this year we finally passed it. Until this point, New Mexico was one of only three states that allowed the federal government to permit our waters which is not a good thing at this moment in time.

[00:22:27] And it's especially not a good thing when the federal government isn't actually protecting the waters that they've protected again, since before I was born. That is a fantastic

[00:22:41] organizations. The sponsor, Senator Peter Wirth, and in the house representative Christina Ortez, both of whom do water work in their personal lives, like we're just truly champions in making this happen. 

[00:22:55] Dave Papineau: One of the largest impacts of climate change in our region and on New Mexico is [00:23:00] drought. This year, New Mexico took steps to protect themselves.

[00:23:03] Tammy explained. 

[00:23:04] Tammy Fiebelkorn: One of the really great wins for WRA in this session was the passage of SB 37, which is a strategic water reserve. So we've had this strategic water reserve language in our statutes for quite some time. It allows the state to buy or lease water rights to keep instream flows going.

[00:23:27] But what we didn't have. Until now was a fund for the money to go into most years, the legislature will allocate some money to the strategic water reserve. But we had the unfortunate situation where if that money wasn't used within that fiscal year, it reverts back to the general fund and these kinds of projects, right?

[00:23:50] Purchasing land, purchasing water rights can often take. More than a year, up to two, three years. And so we've had a lot [00:24:00] of these deals fall through, and so now we have this non reverting fund where the money can go and allow the state staff to really complete those purchases or those leases so that we are protecting our water in a long-term way under our strategic water reserve.

[00:24:19] And I think it was really nice to see that pass so that we can get the movement we need with the money that we are given to make sure that we're protecting our rivers. 

[00:24:31] Dave Papineau: In 2025 Wa a has prioritized funding outdoor equity initiatives in the west. Simply, the outdoors belong to everyone, but not everyone has equal access to them.

[00:24:42] Fortunately, many states, New Mexico included fund initiatives that help youth from rural or underserved communities get outside. This, of course, requires funding. In 2025, New Mexico took steps to fund their outdoor equity initiatives.[00:25:00] 

[00:25:00] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: We were seeking a $6 million allocation to the outdoor equity fund this year. The program will get a little over $4 million for this next fiscal year, which is great. It's not quite what we were asking for. They, in the last grant cycle, they spent over $4 million in grants to, in almost every county and New Mexico.

[00:25:22] And the last legislative session only provided them less than a million dollars for a grantee base of $4 million in requests. So there's a real. Need there to get that program. Additional funding, $3 million. This session in a special appropriation close to four with the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund will see us through one year of grants, but we don't want this program to be living on a year to year basis when it is taking care of New Mexico's children in need and ensuring that they receive the physical and mental health and [00:26:00] educational benefits of getting outside in their communities.

[00:26:03] So next year we're gonna have to come back with a plan to get this fund multi-year funding, which is really what the need is. And that's the model that states like Colorado are starting to take. 

[00:26:18] Dave Papineau: We've heard how WRA has been at work in New Mexico to protect the land and the water, but WRA also worked hard to protect New Mexico's heir.

[00:26:27] Tammy Fiebelkorn: So it was a mixed bag in New Mexico in terms of energy work. During this session, our climate champion, who also happens to be the champion on land and water as well Senator Proti Mimi Stewart had a package of clean energy bills. One was a comprehensive piece of climate legislation that set targets for.

[00:26:51] Specific industries and set forth a path to moving us towards reaching those goals over the next 20 years. Unfortunately, [00:27:00] that Bill did not even get out of committee, but the other two pieces of legislation in her packet. Both passed and one of them is pretty groundbreaking. It's the community benefits fund and this put $210 million, which is a lot of money in New Mexico towards helping local governments with projects that either fight climate change.

[00:27:24] Or help with climate resilience. And so that is a very needed step in our state. We particularly, climate resilience is a big need. Half of our state burns every year. The rest of the state is really experiencing extreme weather events, a lot of flooding, a lot of heat that is causing. Not only damage to the outdoor environment, but to all the inhabitants here, including humans.

[00:27:49] And so that bill was pretty landmark and that one passed along with the sister Bill, the Innovation in State Government Act that gives funding for state government [00:28:00] entities to really up their game in terms of climate solutions as well. And so the passage of two out of three of her bills was a big win for New Mexico and really getting resources to people on the ground.

[00:28:15] We also had pretty good success with the WRA bills, including our grid enhancing technology bill that really works on making sure that transmission. Lines in the state are as efficient and effective as they possibly can be without building new transmission lines. So that bill passed and was signed and then we also had.

[00:28:38] Something that doesn't seem related to energy, but or to the environment, but it certainly is, it was our low income Utility Rates Act that will allow our public regulation commission to approve low income rates for IOU customers. And that is really an important kind of final step in making sure that we are protecting our [00:29:00] low income.

[00:29:00] Customers across our state from climate change couple of years ago we've got the Community Energy Efficiency Development Block grant passed, and that's helping people reduce their energy use within their homes. And this was the second step to that to say, now that we're reducing the use of energy, we also need to make sure that energy per unit cost is lower.

[00:29:22] For folks who cannot afford it. So those were two of the WRA bills that passed, plus the two out of three of the pro tems climate package. So it was a pretty good year in New Mexico for energy. But again, this is year six of trying comprehensive climate legislation in our state and year six of it, not making it.

[00:29:44] Which is always a very disappointing thing, and the time to act is now not next year, and so we are very disappointed in that result. 

[00:29:55] Dave Papineau: A good offense needs to be backed up by a good defense. WA has also [00:30:00] spent lots of time defending new Mexico's clean energy gains. Tammy said there were a lot of bills that were introduced that threatened our clean energy progress.

[00:30:08] Tammy Fiebelkorn: We were alarmed by the number of really bad bills this year. Just in the energy space alone. We had to kill 10 bills. And these ranged from bills that said, we're gonna roll back the states advanced clean cars to advanced clean trucks and heavy duty omnibus rules that were just put in place.

[00:30:31] Last year, there were several of those bills, there were several bills that said. Really silly things like we're gonna define a renewable energy resource and include natural gas as renewable. And then there was one that said you can't, in your building codes, you can't include requirements for ev charging capacity in new buildings.

[00:30:54] And that was a direct response to last year. Our new building codes includes. That requirement. [00:31:00] And so we just had a lot of bills that we had to really put some effort into stopping. Some of these had some legs at the beginning and we had to work a, overtime to make sure that those bills didn't progress through the session.

[00:31:14] But I think, and I've been doing this for quite a long time, that was the highest number of really atrocious bills that I've seen coming in terms of specifically, energy work. So it was a full-time job, just killing the worst of the worst. 

[00:31:30] Dave Papineau: Tammy explained what some of our goals in 2026 and going forward might look like.

[00:31:36] Tammy Fiebelkorn: So next year is a 30 day session. It is a short session for New Mexico. I know that sounds short, but don't forget our long session is only 60 days. But next year only bills that are either on the governor's call. Or that our budget related will be heard 

[00:31:53] Dave Papineau: for a short session in New Mexico. Bills need to be budget related in order to be introduced.

[00:31:58] As Tammy said, the [00:32:00] workaround for that is if they get on the governor's call list, which means she specifically authorized the legislature to hear the bail even though it's not budget related. 

[00:32:09] Tammy Fiebelkorn: It does limit the amount of forward progress we can make on those short years, but we do have a lot of work to do over the interim.

[00:32:19] We had a really great WRA bill I. That focused on EV battery second life. Really making sure that EV batteries, when they are taken out of vehicles can be used for other things, and then at the end of their useful life that they were recycled correctly. And so we're gonna be working on that bill through the interim.

[00:32:39] Trying to make sure that we have a path forward with that. And then, we also have heard from the Senate pro tem that she will be continuing her work on that comprehensive climate legislation piece. And so we will be of course supporting her as well. And then I think, as Brittany mentioned earlier, and she can go into more detail, we have a little cleanup to [00:33:00] do around the, partial veto that we saw in SB five.

[00:33:05] We definitely 

[00:33:05] Brittany Fallon, Ph.D.: plan on coming back with a bill to fix the removal process so that game commissioners are removed with public input in a public process, and it doesn't just happen behind closed doors. We also have some exciting plans for the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund, which are listeners might be.

[00:33:28] The fund is performing really well and it turns out that it is accumulating more interest than the law allows it to disperse. So we're gonna come back next year and amend the bill to allow for more of that interest that's accumulating to funnel into programs to help on the ground projects in New Mexico to help fight.

[00:33:54] Dave Papineau: The progress that we've seen in both Utah and New Mexico is indicative of the importance of state [00:34:00] level action. On the state level, we have the ability to protect our own backyards. Nobody knows the needs of the West and the things threatening it, like the people that actually live here. Progress is possible when we are able to stand together and advocate for the places we live.

[00:34:16] The time for action on climate is now. With the wins we've seen in 2025, we're hopeful that more of that progress is possible. Do you live in one of W's other states or want general updates on what our legislative progress looks like? Sign up for our email list. We regularly send updates about legislative initiatives in your area.

[00:34:35] And provide educational content on the most pressing issues threatening the west. We will also share opportunities to take action and to use your voice to influence pro climate policy in the West.

[00:34:52] Lastly, WRA would like to thank our sponsors who help make our work possible. Our Champion sponsor is First Bank. [00:35:00] Our signature sponsors are Denver Water Torch, clean Energy, Scarpa, coco and Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. Our supporting sponsors are so up. GOCO BSW, wealth Partners, Meridian Public Affairs Group 14, engineering and Kind Design.

[00:35:17] Thank you for listening.