Listed below are the bills/initiatives/resolutions that we are advocating for this session and we encourage all of you in the NM Healthy Soil Working Group network to do so as well. These initiatives can and will succeed through our and others’ statewide encouragement, teamwork and dedication. To contact the relevant committee members go to the committee links provided below and scroll down to the list of members. To view committee hearings go to the webcast link on any given day.
Governor’s Food, Farm and Hunger Initiative
Update: Your advocacy has worked! We are happy to report that the Food, Farm, and Hunger Initiative has been fully funded at $24 million.
The Food, Farm and Hunger Initiatives supports expansion of programs such as the New Mexico Grown Program funding institutional purchases of local fruits and vegetables for nutrition programs; farmers’ market Double Up Food Bucks, NM Healthy Soil Program and Agriculture Workforce Programs, Farm to Food Banks, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, and emergency food assistance. Additional funding was provided to support expansion of the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program.
This bold initiative was developed in an unprecedented community participatory process that NM Healthy Soil Working Group contributed to. Over 250 New Mexicans came together to work on this large, comprehensive plan.
New Mexico’s Legislators and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham made a $24 million commitment to the Food, Farms and Hunger Initiative growth of our local food and farm systems programs, both within agencies and communities to shepherd. More details will be provided from the Office of the Governor. The Healthy Soil Program will receive state funding of $ 1M in FY23, which is more than double the amount of funding from previous years.
→ Read the Fact Sheet on the Food, Farm and Hunger Initiative
Office of the Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
→ Read the press release: Lujan Grisham Administration proposes Historic Funding to combat Hunger
Office of the Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
GO Bond for Land & Water Conservation
Update: This initiative did not go through this session.
If approved by legislators, and then by voters on a statewide ballot in November 2022, the proposed “Land of Enchantment Bond” would provide funding for conservation projects around the state, including $12 million for Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the NM Healthy Soil Program combined. The GO Bond would be funded by a small increase in state property tax rates of about $2 per New Mexico household over the next 25 years.
→ Read the Press Release about the Land of Enchantment Bond
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department
Green Amendment
Update: Unfortunately, the Green Amendment was tabled in the Judiciary Committee, but will be reintroduced in the 2023 legislative session.
HJR2, SJR2 which provides the people of New Mexico “the natural, inherent and inalienable right to a clean and healthy environment, including water, air, soil, flora, fauna, ecosystems and climate in the constitution.” This is a Joint Resolution which if enacted will put the Green Amendment on a statewide ballot in November 2022.
→ Read: New Mexico Green Amendment Movement Gaining Traction
New Mexico Green Amendment for the Generations
Public Bank
Update: The Public Banking Act, HB 75 was tabled in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee of the House and will be reintroduced in the 2023 legislative session.
HB 75 Establishing a public bank in New Mexico that would among other things support soil health through low interest loans to farmers & ranchers and more regenerative agriculture related investments.
While HB 75 will not be further considered during this session, AFLEP leadership was energized by the Hearing. “We found it especially heartening,” Angela Merket said, “that not only did many members of the Committee recommend we continue our work toward establishing a Public Bank of New Mexico, but they offered concrete suggestions detailing how the bank should be developed, asking for more nuts-and-bolts detail on cooperative relationships between the state-owned bank and Community Banks and how authorities and State departments would function.”
→ Learn more about Public Banking for New Mexico
Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity (AFLEP)
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