Summary:

 Senate Bill 281 (SB 281) enacts the Rural Electric Cooperative Wildfire Liability Act. It requires wildfire mitigation plans and provides for a review by the Forestry Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. SB 281provides for approval by the Public Regulation Commission and requires public notice. It establishes limits on liability and damage awards and a two-year limitation on the filing of claims. It amends Section 30-32-4 NMSA 1978 and Section 37-1-4 NMSA 1978. 

 

Legislation Overview:

 Senate Bill 281 (SB 281) enacts the Rural Electric Cooperative Wildfire Liability Act and provides seven definitions. To receive the benefits under the Rural Electric Cooperative Wildfire Liability Act, an electric cooperative must prepare a wildfire mitigation plan that includes wildfire risk assessment methods; inspection and maintenance of the coop’s system; emergency wildfire response; confirmation of the publicly availability of the cooperative’s plan and annual reports; and a description of its mitigation plan. 
SB 281 mandates that the cooperative submit its plan to the Forestry Division (FD) of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) before submitting it to the PRC. It establishes approval of a plan as a matter of law if the FD or PRC do not respond within forty-five days of submission. If the PRC rejects the plan, it must issue a written decision, and the cooperative has thirty days to modify and resubmit its plan. The plan will be effective for five years from the date of the Public Regulation Commission’s approval. SB 281 requires the cooperative to post a non-confidential version of the plan on its website within thirty days of approval and to post its current wildfire mitigation plan annually starting 1 July 2026 and every 1 July thereafter.
SB 281 creates presumptions and exceptions for the cooperative against civil liability if the 
cooperative's plan has been approved by the PRC and the annual report requirements are met.  They include presumption of reasonable and prudent actions, and exemptions from liability for losses resulting from wildfires and failure to implement certain shutoffs unless mandated by the PRC.
SB 281 establishes the grounds upon which a plaintiff may recover economic or noneconomic losses and the level of proof the plaintiff must demonstrate including proof of intentionality and actual and proximate cause of the wildfire and loss to plaintiff.
It establishes a two-year statute of limitations for filing a civil action against a cooperative for loss due to a wildfire. It prescribes the documentation needed to prove certain noneconomic claims. SB 281 allows a state agency or fire response agency to file suit in district court to recover incurred losses but only to the monetary limitation of a total of two million dollars ($2,000,000).
SB 281 excepts a cooperative operating pursuant to an approved wildfire mitigation plan under this Act from damages to persons injured in Section 30-32-4 NMSA 1978. It excepts actions brought against a cooperative for damages due to a wildfire from the four-year statute of limitations in Section 37-1-4 NMSA 1978 and subjects those actions to the two-year statute of limitations in this Act. 
 

Amendments:

 2/19/25
The Senate Conservation Committee (SCONC) amended SB 281 (SB 281A SCONC) to require that an electric coop’s emergency response procedures in the coop’s mitigation plan include emergency contacts for the coop; communication procedures to contact the relevant federal, state, and local agencies or entities responsible for fire suppression; and emergency contact email addresses, phone numbers and applicable radio frequencies. It changes the effective period for a coop wildfire mitigation plan from five years to three years. SB 281A SCONC requires a coop to 
submit a mitigation plan to the FD during a period starting on 1 November of each year and ending on 28 February of the following year. It extends the time period a coop has to wait to submit a mitigation plan to the PRC after the coop submitted its mitigation plan to the FD for review from forty-five days to sixty days if the FD does not respond.