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SB 421: LIMIT LOCAL GOV’T & ZONING COMMISSIONS

An Act Relating To Zoning; Limiting The Authority Of Counties And Municipalities; Limiting The Authority Of Zoning Commissions.

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HIGH SB 421
LIMIT LOCAL GOV’T & ZONING COMMISSIONS

Legislative URL:
SB 421 on nmlegis.gov
Emergency Clause:
No
Germane:
N/A
Location:
SCONC
Action:
[5] SCONC/SJC-SCONC API.
Issue(s):

Related Legislators

Bill Sponsor:

Related Documents

Downloads:
Introduced
Fiscal Impact Report
Summary

This bill expressly preempts the authority of counties, municipalities and county or municipal zoning commissions to adopt ordinances or resolutions that regulate agricultural operations, mining activities and oil and gas activities by giving all such authority over these activities to state laws and rules.

 

 

The bill includes the following broad definitions:

  • agricultural operation” means “agricultural operation” as defined in Subsection B of Section 47-9-5 NMSA 1978, i.e.:

(1)          the plowing, tilling or preparation of soil at an agricultural facility;

(2)          the planting, growing, fertilizing or harvesting of crops;

(3)          the application of pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals, compounds or substances to crops, weeds or soil in the connection with production of crops, livestock, animals or poultry;

(4)          the breeding, hatching, raising, producing, feeding, keeping, slaughtering or processing of livestock, hogs, aquatic animals, equines, chickens, turkeys, poultry or other fowl normally raised for food, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, rabbits or similar farm animals for commercial purposes;

(5)          the production and keeping of honey bees, production of honey bee products and honey bee processing facilities;

(6)          the production, processing or packaging of eggs or egg products;

(7)          the manufacturing of feed for poultry or livestock;

(8)          the rotation of crops;

(9)          commercial agriculture;

(10)          the application of existing, changed or new technology, practices, processes or products to an agricultural operation; or

(11)          the operation of a roadside market.

  • mining” means “mining” as defined in Subsection H of Section 69-36-3 NMSA 1978, i.e.:

the process of obtaining useful minerals from the earth’s crust or from previously disposed or abandoned mining wastes, including exploration, open-cut mining and surface operation, the disposal of refuse from underground and in situ mining, mineral transportation, concentrating, milling, evaporation, leaching and other processing. “Mining” does not mean the exploration and extraction of potash, sand, gravel, caliche, borrow dirt and quarry rock used as aggregate in construction, the exploration and extraction of natural petroleum in a liquid or gaseous state by means of wells or pipes, the development or extraction of coal, the extraction of geothermal resources, smelting, refining, cleaning, preparation, transportation or other off-site operations not conducted on permit areas or the extraction, processing or disposal of commodities, byproduct materials or wastes or other activities regulated by the federal nuclear regulatory commission.

  • oil and gas activities” means activities subject to regulation pursuant to the Oil and Gas Act, including the exploration, development, production and transportation of oil and gas, and any associated remediation and reclamation activities related thereto.

 

Possible concerns might include:

  1. the inability of counties and municipalities to have any meaningful control over agricultural operations, mining activities and oil and gas activities within their jurisdictions; and
  2. total control over those activities by state government and those political parties that control state government at any particular time.