House Bill 284 (HB 284) amends the Animals and Livestock code in definitions. HB 284 allows fertility control; relocation and adoption of free-roaming horses under certain circumstances; and allows a free-roaming horse expert to control the population of free-roaming horses on certain land through certain methods. HB 284 requires the New Mexico Livestock Board to make rules regarding the approval of the qualifications of a free-roaming horse expert. HB 284 prohibits the slaughter or export for slaughter of free-roaming horses. HB 284 provides a penalty. 

 House Bill 284 amends Animals and Livestock to address free-roaming horses.
SECTION 1 in Animals and Livestock Definitions amends Subsection P to define ”free-roaming horse expert. 
SECTION 2 amends Equine Rescue or Retirement Facility in Subsection A and C and Subsection D is inserted.
Subsection A defines “facility” and is amended provide that equine rescue or retirement facility  includes a public, private reserve or preserve that provides lifelong care or finds new owners for unwanted, abused or neglected equines or captured free-roaming horses, but does not include a federal facility.
Subsection C specifies that the board shall register facilities that meet the requirements of the section and the rules promulgated by the board.
D. The board may establish fines and penalties not exceeding $1,000 per violation for violations of this section.
SECTION 3 adds new material to provide for free-roaming horse experts.
A. An individual, a corporation or an organization that provides free-roaming horse or herd management services, administers free-roaming horse fertility control or captures a free-roaming horse for relocation in New Mexico shall be registered by the board, but this shall not apply to the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the United States Forest Service (USFS). 
B. The board shall: 
(1) promulgate rules regarding the determination and approval of qualifications and registration of free-roaming horse experts; 
(2) register free-roaming horse experts that meet the requirements of this section and the rules promulgated by the board; and 
(3) revoke the registration of a free-roaming horse expert that fails to comply with the rules and apply other penalties that the board deems appropriate. 
C. The board may charge fees as specified.
D. Fees collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the New Mexico Livestock Board General Fund and may be used to carry out the provisions of this section. 
SECTION 4 changes the title to:. Free-Roaming Horses — Humane Management — Fertility Control — Prohibitions
Subsections A-C are deleted. The following sections are inserted:
A. A state, county or municipal government or governmental subdivision may enter into an agreement with a registered free-roaming horse expert to conduct surveys and determine land carrying capacity. If a qualified expert determines the free-roaming horse or herd exceeds the carrying capacity of the land inhabited, they may cause control of a free-roaming horse or herd upon the approval of the landowner through: 
(1) the use of fertility control; 
(2) humane capture and relocation to an equine rescue or retirement facility as specified;
(3) humane capture and relocation to land, with the permission of the landowner, that has the capacity to sustain free-roaming horse herds or family bands; or 
(4) for a horse determined by a veterinarian licensed to practice in New Mexico to suffer from a medical condition that significantly impacts the horse's quality of life and cannot be reasonably treated, humane euthanasia. 
B. A free-roaming horse captured pursuant to this section and relocated to an equine rescue or retirement facility shall be microchipped or freeze branded for individual and ownership identification purposes. 
C. Nothing in this section shall authorize a qualified free-roaming horse expert to engage in herd management activities on federal or tribal land. 
D. Nothing in this section shall affect the BLM’'s or the USFS's authority to manage free-roaming horses that are not subject to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act .
E. A person shall not slaughter, allow to be slaughtered, export for slaughter or release from a facility or adoptive home into the wild a free-roaming horse. A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be sentenced in accordance with the provisions of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978. Each free-roaming horse that a person slaughters, allows to be slaughtered, exports for slaughter or releases constitutes a separate offense. 
F. Provides definitions as used in this section. 

 House Bill 284 amends sections of Chapter 77, Article 2 NMSA 1978 regarding animals and livestock to add material relating to free-roaming horses not currently included in the law, including creating a free-roaming horse expert and providing more specifics for managing free-roaming horses. 

 HB 284 is substituted by the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) as CS/HB 284 (CS/HB 284) as follows:
CS/HB 284 changes the title to allow a free-roaming horse expert to implement free-roaming horse herd management rather than to control the population of free-roaming horses.
CS/HB 284 makes several changes and insertions of definitions in SECTION 1, DEFINITIONS as used in The Livestock Code:
Subsection A, the definition of animals or livestock inserts “or free-roaming horses”.
Subsections O, Q, R and S are inserted:
O. "equine rescue or retirement facility" means a facility, including a public or private reserve or preserve, that provides lifelong care or finds new owners for unwanted, abused or neglected equines or captured free-roaming horses, but does not include a federal facility;
Q. "fertility control" means the reduction or maintenance of the reproduction rate of animals or free-roaming horses using castration or non-surgical contraceptives; 
R. "free-roaming horse" means an unclaimed horse found at large that is not an estray due to lack of evidence of private ownership or domestication and does not include horses subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government pursuant to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act; 
S. "free-roaming horse expert" means a person registered and authorized by the board as qualified to perform free-roaming horse or herd management services;
CS/SB 284 amends Section 2 in EQUINE RESCUE OR RETIREMENT FACILITY as follows:
A. As used in this section, "facility" means an equine rescue or retirement facility. 
Subsection C is amended to provide that the board shall consult with representatives as specified. The requirement that the board consult annually is deleted.
Section 2, Subsection D of SB 284 is deleted and is inserted in Section 3, Subsection C.
CS/SB 284 makes changes in SECTION 3 in providing the qualifications of a free-roaming horse expert replaces Subsection A and inserts Subsection B as follows:
A. A person shall not provide free-roaming horse or herd management services, administer free-roaming horse fertility control or capture a free-roaming horse for relocation unless registered by the board as a free-roaming horse expert; provided that this section shall not apply to: (1) persons providing free-roaming horse or herd management services prior to the effective date of this 2025 act who apply for registration as a free-roaming horse expert within three months after the board promulgates rules related to registration and subsequently become registered, or who cease such free-roaming horse or herd management services; (2) the federal bureau of land management or the federal forest service acting in accordance with applicable federal law, regulations and policy.
B. A free-roaming horse expert shall meet or exceed minimum qualifications to be registered by the board to perform free-roaming horse or herd management services pursuant to Section 77-18-5 NMSA 1978, including demonstrated expertise in: (1) conducting free-roaming horse herd surveys; (2) determining the ownership status of land; (3) analyzing the carrying capacity of land in conjunction with environmental health; and (4) understanding free-roaming horse habitat, biology, behavior, management strategies and population dynamics.
Subsection C is changed to allow that the board “may establish civil fines to exceeding $1,000 per violation for violations of Subsection A of this section.
Subsection D is inserted as follows:
D. The board may charge the following fees: (1) an initial approval fee of not more than $500; and (2) an annual registration fee of not more than $250.
SECTION 4 in FREE-ROAMING HORSES--HUMANE MANAGEMENT--FERTILITY CONTROL—PROHIBITIONS in Subsection A makes changes to the language, including substituting “registered” expert rather than “qualified” and deleting language referring to “best available science”.
SB 284 Subsection C is deleted and replaced with CS/SB 284 Subsection C and aSubsection D is inserted. Subsection C and D are as follows:
C. A free-roaming horse expert shall not enter private land or state land without the permission of the owner or lessee of that land. 
D. A free-roaming horse expert shall not engage in herd management activities on federal land without the appropriate federal entity's permission or on tribal land without the appropriate tribal entity's permission.