LegisLetter 3.21.25

LegisLetter – 3.21.25

Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico 

Federal

Let’s start with a federal update. There have been many recent executive orders and policy changes that have affected federal agencies. These changes are the focus of the Special Order of Business that RMFU delegates brought to the NFU Convention earlier in March and succeeded in passing. The stories shared so far by those affected have been very helpful in relaying the impacts that the federal freezes and firings have had on family farmers and ranchers to our Congressional delegation and the administration. RMFU participated in a roundtable with Senator Michael Bennet (CO) on 3/21/25 with other agricultural organizations to discuss these issues, share the impacts on farmers and ranchers, and discuss what we all can do to best protect our agricultural communities. We are still working to continue to collect stories from those affected by both the federal government’s recent firings and the effects of all of the other recent policy changes.  If you have not shared your story yet or there have been developments, please submit your story at this link or by reaching out to us directly. 

Colorado

In Colorado, we are over halfway through the 2025 legislative session. We had a great Legislative Drive-In event, where we highlighted many of the bills we are tracking. Our former Director, Dan Waldvogle, was in attendance to discuss and testify in committee on SB25-128: Agricultural Worker Service Providers Access Private Property, which we have discussed in previous Legisletters. The bill has passed the Senate, and many attendees at our Drive-In event saw it pass out of its House committee. The bill now is waiting to be heard on the House floor. 

To briefly highlight some other bills we are supporting:

• HB25-1021: Tax Incentives for Employee-Owned Businesses has passed out of the House Business committee and is pending in House Appropriations. This bill, among other measures, will make it more affordable for an owner to sell their business to their employees by eliminating the state capital gains tax that the owner would otherwise pay.
• HB25-1281: Title Register and Drive Kei Trucks passed unanimously out of the House Transportation committee and is pending in House Finance. This legislation was inspired by people who had trouble registering Kei trucks and other minitrucks with the Colorado DMV; if passed, it will now be clearly legal to register such vehicles.
• HB25-1283: Wild Horse Project Management & Immunocontraception has passed out of the House on third reading and is pending consideration by the Senate. This bill would empower the Colorado Department of Agriculture to lead efforts to manage wild horse populations, including efforts to do less invasive birth control on herds via darting. 

We are also tracking the discussions for Colorado’s state budget in the Joint Budget Committee (JBC). We were anticipating that the JBC would be done with the ‘long bill’ budget bill by now, but disagreements about how to address the more than 1 billion dollar shortfall that Colorado’s state budget faces have slowed progress. Once the JBC passes their draft, there will be lengthy debate in both chambers on the long bill. 

For a full list of RMFU’s positions, follow Colorado’s bill tracker here.

New Mexico

We are wrapping up our New Mexico legislative session!  The session officially ends on Saturday, March 22nd. The budget has passed and heads to the governor. Some of our priorities within it:

• $5M to New Mexico Department of Agriculture for ag water resilience grants. This funding will be available to political subdivisions of the state such as towns, acequias, and conservation districts to help producers improve their water management technology, infrastructure, and practices.
• $3.3M to assist state meat processors in adapting to new meat processing technologies, new equipment, and new offal disposal systems.  
• $2M to the New Mexico Grown Approved Supplier Program – this program certifies New Mexico producers to sell to publicly funding institutional buyers such as schools and senior centers. 
• $1.55M to the veterinarian loan repayment fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2026, contingent on enactment of House Bill 90 or Senate Bill 8 or similar legislation of the first session of the fifty-seventh legislature creating the fund.

Finally, Senate Bill 21, the Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act, which had previously been two separate bills, passed out of both chambers and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. All in all, this has been a great session for RMFU priorities in New Mexico, especially on water.

For a full list of RMFU’s positions, follow New Mexico’s bill tracker here.

Wyoming

The Wyoming General Session ended 3/7/25. Stay tuned for a Legislative Roundup publication specific to Wyoming. 

For a full list of RMFU’s positions, follow Wyoming’s bill tracker here.

Stay in touch!

See all previous LegisLetters on our website and check out our weekly video updates on our YouTube channel.

As always, please feel free to reach out to the RMFU Government Relations team with any questions. 

Director of Government Relations: Tyler Garrett – ty***********@rm**.org

Associate Director of Government Relations: J Burow – j.*****@rm**.org