A bill that would regulate prescribed burns this spring has been revised and is getting serious attention in the New Mexico legislature.
“Senate Bill 21 is designed to reduce the risk of prescribed burns in the springtime getting out of control and causing the damages that you’ve seen across New Mexico,” state Sen. Ron Griggs said told KOB.
The bill initially was tabled almost immediately last month, according to the KOB report, but Griggs, who represents District 34, made key revisions that prompted new discussions. The bill is intended to prevent the kind of wildfires that ravaged the state last year.
“People’s homes were lost,” Griggs said. “People’s property was destroyed. So, it made more sense to at least take the time to debate it in committee. Whether the bill was good or bad, really didn’t matter, but take the time to show the people in New Mexico that the legislature is concerned enough about the issue to talk about it.”
Griggs, according to KOB, changed the bill’s language to be more specific to exclude burning during March, April and May.
“The bill just said initially, you can’t burn in the spring,” Griggs said. “What the bill now says is, you can’t burn in the spring when a Red Flag Warning has been issued for the date and the time you want to burn.”
The Senate Conservation Committee passed the bill with a 5-2 vote, and Griggs is hopeful it will eventually make it on the floor for a full vote.
“If the individuals or the entity that wants to do the burn does those particular things, we protect the public better than we have in the past,” Griggs said.