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Santa Fe council waives rules to advance animal-abandonment bill; public caption to include sponsor
Summary
Council voted to waive procedural rules so the animal-abandonment bill (2025-22) can be published before committee recommendation, allowing the departing sponsor's name to remain on the bill and enabling a public hearing in December. The caption proposed increases to fines and new unattended-animal prohibitions.
The City of Santa Fe's governing body voted to waive its procedural rules to allow publication of a proposed ordinance amending city animal-control sections, enabling the bill to be publicly noticed and considered before a committee recommendation if two-thirds of the council supported the waiver.
Clerk-read caption language (item 7a) proposed multiple changes to Santa Fe City Code (SFCC 1987): define ‘‘abandonment' and ‘‘unattended animal'; prohibit keeping animals on medians; create a new unattended-animal section (5-8.14) imposing penalties; amend the fine schedule (Table 15-12.1) to increase the fine for abandoning an animal from $200 to $500, impose a $200 fine for the first unattended-animal offense and $500 for subsequent offenses, and impose a $200 fine for keeping animals on medians. The caption also requested a waiver under governing-body procedural rule I.v.d to publish the bill before committee approval and to allow a public hearing and possible final approval on 12/10/2025 if a committee approves the bill before that date.
Councilor Castro moved the waiver, explaining she had come on as a cosponsor because the bill moved in committee and work remained incomplete. "So I did come on as a cosponsor. Unfortunately, we don't have time to finish this before the end of the year," she said, asking that Councilor Lindell's name appear on the bill prior to her departure from the dais. The council discussed the mechanics and confirmed no rule prevents a sponsor's name from remaining on a bill after they leave office; the waiver passed on a roll call.
Because the waiver passed, staff will publish the caption variants reflecting pending committee amendments and notice the December hearing; the council explicitly recorded that any committee recommendation will still be required before final passage could occur on the scheduled hearing date.
