News brief posted last evening by New Mexico Pilots Association - great news for backcountry flyers in New Mexico!

"Please join me in extending our gratitude to Representatives Jim Trujillo and James White for their great effort and support to amend the NM Recreational Use Statute to include the operation of aircraft in the limited list of specified recreational activities. In addition, if you contacted your respective state representative, please phone or e-mail him/her to thank them for their support.

House Bill 12 was presented to the floor for a vote today, and it passed unanimously!

Jim Trujillo at [email protected].
James White at [email protected].

The bill will now proceed to the Senate where it will be carried by Senator Carlos Cisneros.

Very soon, we will be asking you to contact your respective state senators to support the bill as it comes before them. Please use the link below to obtain contact information for your respective state senator. Passing this bill will open doors to increased recreational aviation opportunities in the state of New Mexico.

http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legislatorsearch.aspx

Thank you all for your continued support and effort in this endeavor.

Ron Krohn, Vice President
New Mexico Pilots Association
[email protected]"

Good news New Mexico,
I have contacted my pilots association and they could tell me nothing about recreational use liability in our state. Obviously then our state does not have this protection for recreational flying although it exists for other more "normal" activities. I decided that since I may end up hosting the worlds smallest fly in that I should check in to this matter and get the ball rolling for South Dakota. I don't know how the rest of you pilots are doing in your state but check the status of your state here. New Mexico and few others may need to be updated, I don't know the date this was published.
http://theraf.org/members/recreational_ ... ussion.pdf

dirtstrip wrote:Good news New Mexico,
I have contacted my pilots association and they could tell me nothing about recreational use liability in our state. Obviously then our state does not have this protection for recreational flying although it exists for other more "normal" activities. I decided that since I may end up hosting the worlds smallest fly in that I should check in to this matter and get the ball rolling for South Dakota. I don't know how the rest of you pilots are doing in your state but check the status of your state here. New Mexico and few others may need to be updated, I don't know the date this was published.
http://theraf.org/members/recreational_ ... ussion.pdf

Dirt - the New Mexico Pilot's Association, which coordinated the writing and shepherding of the RUS ("recreational use statute") aviation exemption bill through the legislature, got a lot of help from our regional RAF rep (Rol Murrow). And our lead man on this effort - Ron Krohn - is a Santa Fe-based guy who knows some of the legislators, and also happens to be our Vice President. Ron has done a terrific job leading the charge for NMPA.

It really helps to have someone working in your state capital who knows at least a few of the key legislators and can recruit them to act as sponsors in both houses of your legislature ... a licensed pilot legislator would be ideal. The fact that quite a few other states have already made this change also helps to persuade legislators who otherwise probably know or care little about recreational aviation.

Another factor: keep the scope of the bill as narrow as possible. One way to do that is to simply add aviation to the specific list of liability-exempted recreational pursuits already listed in your existing RUS ("recreational use statute"). By doing that, Ron actually managed to win the support of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association. On the other hand, if you get the trial lawyers leading the opposition, you're probably DOA in the legislature.

If you or anybody else needs help getting started on the RUS , best place to start is with RAF and your regional rep. They provide a lot of information and promotional materials and they also know the bill-writing process too.

Duane

Duane
I know a couple of legislators already and the past governor became a close personal enemy over closing smaller schools in the state. I testified on several bills over the years and am remembered for opposing that one in defense of our own school. The present governor has reversed the states position with nearly unanimous support in the legislature for letting small communities be. I think I will try your approach and couple that with the South Dakota Pilot Association membership letters which go out to many of the pilot legislators. We have a part time legislature here and the Feb. 1 deadline to submit new bills is past so this is a next session issue. This will give time for a well thought out approach before next year. Having copies of New Mexico's and others law in hand really plows the road for the job and shows legislators how little change needs to be done to existing law. Thanks for making it easier.

We're almost there! HB12 - our proposed revision to the New Mexico recreational use statute (RUS) that adds aviation to the list of protected recreational uses of private property just passed the Senate, so now it's on it's way to the Governor's desk.

Congrats again to Ron Krohn, who shepharded this bill through the Legislature on our first try, which is pretty unusual - especially for subjects that don't happen to be the hot topic of the moment for the general public.

We hope Governor Martinez will sign it into law shortly, so we can begin letting private airstrip owners in the state know of their new liability exemption.

Stay tuned!

Next year start working on an important corollary to that law. That is that if the guy that starts the lawsuit loses he has to pay the landowners legal fees. Right now only Maine has that as part of their law.

Per New Mexico Pilots Association release:

"I am very pleased to report that Governor Susana Martinez has signed House Bill 12 into law!

I would like to especially thank Rep. Jim Trujillo (D) who successfully navigated this legislation to and through the various committees, and Rep. Jim White (R) who supported this legislation throughout the process on the other side of the floor. These efforts, combined with the support and assistance of the RAF, and the individual NMPA members who reached out to their respective legislators, was instrumental in moving this project to a successful completion.

Many thanks to everyone who supported this initiative.

Ron Krohn, Vice President
New Mexico Pilots Association"

All of us in NMPA also want to thank Ron Krohn for marshalling this through the Legislature and Governor's office. It's a tremendous achievement to get this done on the first try!

This will have a great deal of significance for us here in New Mexico, as by far the largest number of our backcountry airstrips here are privately owned, mostly ranch strips.

The bill will now proceed to the Senate where it will be carried by Senator Carlos Cisneros.

His son is a pilot, and I knew him some 10 years ago. I hope it all works out!