Committee tables agritourism liability bill after debate over waiver protections

A committee tabled House Bill 521 after extended questioning and a brief public debate about liability protections proposed for agritourism operators.

Representative Block presented the Agritourism Promotion Act as a measure to help farmers and ranchers diversify income by hosting visitors for educational and tourism activities such as U-pick operations, farm tours and on-farm events. The sponsor and industry witnesses said limited-liability provisions would reduce insurance barriers that currently prevent some farms from offering agritourism services.

Supporters included producers who said they cannot obtain insurance for U-pick operations and distributors of agritour services. Opponents argued the bill could undercut ordinary negligence standards and raise public-safety concerns if liability protections were too broad. Attorney Tyler Atten testified that all businesses should be required to exercise ordinary care and opposed blanket liability limits.

Sponsor and expert witnesses likened the proposal to existing New Mexico statutes such as the skier-safety and equine-liability frameworks and said the bill aims to preserve other legal recourse for willful, wanton or reckless conduct. Representative Block and industry witnesses said their goal was to preserve inherent-risk protections (for things such as uneven terrain and insects) while retaining liability for unsafe conditions that the operator could reasonably correct.

After a long colloquy about the scope of waiver language, negligence standards, and whether the measure should explicitly include or exclude particular activities (for example, pumpkin patches or dairy tours), a motion to table the bill succeeded on the floor. The transcript shows the motion to table carried 6–4 in the committee recorded roll call; the transcript excerpt prints the result as the motion to table succeeded but individual yes/no votes in the excerpt are not fully enumerated for each member.