You may remember that during last year’s NM legislative session, we came together in opposition to HB161, a bill which would have preempted local governments from enacting ordinances to regulate the cultivation and production of seeds. That bill was tabled in committee.
We have learned that the biotech industry lobbied the legislature and inserted a last-minute amendment into the budget bill, HB 2, that directs the NM Department of Agriculture to promulgate rules for seed regulation (page 141 of SFC report, New Mexico State University section 6):
“The general fund appropriation includes sufficient funding to the department of agriculture at New Mexico state university to promulgate rules to solely regulate seed.”
Like HB161 from 2018, this language seeks to grant the state the sole authority to regulate seeds and to preempt local jurisdictions from seed regulation. This would prevent cities and counties from enacting ordinances that protect native seeds from GMO seeds, for example. For more background on this issue, read this article from The New Mexico Food and Seed Sovereignty Alliance https://lasacequias.org/2018/03/29/seeds-preemption-bill-tabled-2018-legislative-session/
Please contact Governor Lujan-Grisham and urge her to line item veto the seed preemption language in HB2.
Email the Governor https://www.governor.state.nm.us/contact-the-governor/
Call the Governor’s office: (505) 476-2200
Leave a Reply