New Mexico
Deepfake disclosure bill passes NM House – Source New Mexico
A proposal to require public disclosure whenever a political campaign in the state uses false information generated by artificial intelligence in a campaign advertisement gained approval from the New Mexico House of Representatives on Monday night.
After about an hour of debate, the House voted 38-28 to pass House Bill 182, which would amend the state’s Campaign Reporting Act to require political campaigns to disclose whenever they use artificial intelligence in their ads, and would make it a crime to use artificially-generated ads to intentionally deceive voters.
The bill’s latest version passed by the House specifies the disclaimer’s exact wording that must be present when AI is used for any campaign material. That disclaimer must read, “This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence.”
To become law, HB 182 would still need to go through the committee process in the Senate, then a full Senate vote before the session adjourns at noon on Feb. 15. Then it would need to be signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The bill would not entirely prohibit using artificial intelligence in campaign ads, however.
Candidates running for office in New Mexico must disclose whenever they knowingly publish a deceptive ad within three months of an election with the intent of changing voters’ behavior. If they don’t, the proposal would make publishing the ad a misdemeanor and penalties would increase for additional violations.
HB 182 got the go-ahead from the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on Jan. 31. Eight days later, the House Judiciary Committee amended the proposal to further narrow the crime it creates to exclude things like media coverage of fake ads.
The committee clarified platforms like a radio station, newspaper, Facebook or Google would not violate the law if they publish, post or distribute fake ads so long as they tell the ad’s creator about the disclaimer requirement. House Majority Floor Leader Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque), the bill’s sponsor, said that change came after she spoke to representatives from Google about the bill.
“The distributor, if you will — whoever is putting this together professionally — just has to have a policy that reflects our law, letting its customers know that this is not allowed,” Chasey told the House. “If the individual doesn’t follow the policy that the platform has adopted, then it’s the individual who is liable if they don’t follow the law.”
It’s not up to the platform to police ads, Chasey said, but rather the person harmed by the ad must complain to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, which would then either refer the issue to the state Ethics Commission or the New Mexico Department of Justice.
The Ethics Commission can also bring their own case against someone under the Campaign Reporting Act, she said.
The version amended out of the Judiciary Committee also requires the disclaimers be in the same language as the ad itself, such as Spanish or Diné, she said.
Rep. James Townsend (R-Artesia) asked if it would have been easier to simply eliminate the use of AI in campaign ads altogether but Chasey said no, because that would violate the First Amendment right to free speech.
“It just seems like we are setting up a very slippery slope for anyone who uses information that they may gather off of the web,” Townsend said. “It’s going to cause a lot of problems and most of the things that will be accused of being wrong, the election will be long gone and over, the damage will be done, before this is ever decided.”
If someone uses AI to depict someone doing something they didn’t actually do, what’s called a “deepfake,” then there must be a disclaimer, Chasey said.
“We’re not saying you can’t say it,” she said.
At least four other states including Michigan have passed similar legislation, Chasey said. Other states have tried to address deepfakes in different ways, she added.
Over half the states in the country are considering similar legislation, according to a bill tracker run by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that supports Chasey’s bill.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Some call the multi-million-dollar El Camino Real Heritage Center an architectural masterpiece. Others, however, call it one of New Mexico’s most expensive blunders. In 2021, former Speaker of the House Don Tripp weighed in on the project, “As far as benefit, it really didn’t have any benefit to anybody.”
Taxpayers paid more than $4,000,000 to build it, a few million dollars more to operate it and, now, a half million to tear it down.
The El Camino Real Heritage Center is a history museum dedicated to the historic ‘Royal Road of the Interior’. Established by Spanish conquistadores in 1598, the historic byway extended from Mexico City to north of Santa Fe. Armed with $4,000,000 from the state legislature and the Bureau of Land Management, consultants were hired to find the best place to build the new museum. After studying various locations, they chose a remote spot on the prairie 37 miles south of Socorro.
The experts said, ‘build halfway between Socorro and Truth or Consequences,’ and the museum will draw 100,000 visitors a year, bring in $10,000,000 to the region, and create 174 new jobs. Back in 2004, no one raised a red flag about putting a tourist attraction in an out-of-the-way location. It was only after construction was complete that officials learned the so-called experts were dead wrong. The project was doomed to fail before it even opened its doors. “Who the heck thought it was a good idea to build it where they built it?” State Rep. Gail Armstrong told KRQE News 13 last year.
The state’s newest museum opened in 2005. An estimated crowd of 2000 turned out for the dedication ceremony. Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker was there. “We had Bill Richardson out there cutting the ribbon, and then we had the Vice President of Spain come down here with his beautiful wife, and we had dignitaries everywhere. It was exciting,” Mayor Bhasker said.
But the excitement was short-lived. Where the historic El Camino Real trail was in use for three centuries, the museum with its namesake lasted just eleven years. The remote location meant few visitors, meager revenue, inadequate staffing, expensive utilities, and maintenance.
In 2016, New Mexico’s Cultural Affairs Department pulled the plug on the El Camino Real Heritage Center, padlocked the doors, and permanently closed the museum. The parking lot is deserted, tourists are gone, artifacts are packed away, display cases vacant, exhibits dismantled, interpretive panels removed, and the gift shop is bare. All there is to show for millions of tax dollars is an abandoned building on the prairie.
“Eleven years is disgraceful. There was a real failure in this particular project,” the late State Senator John Arthur Smith said in a 2021 interview. We asked the retired Senate Finance Committee Chair, when the history of this project is written, what will it say? “They’re going to shake their head and (use this as) another example of government waste,” the retired Senator Smith said in 2021.
So what do you do with a $4,000,000 deserted building in the middle of nowhere? Time and vandals have taken a toll. The museum was closed and boarded up in 2016, and then state officials abandoned the site. Because little effort was made to secure the empty building, it is no longer habitable. Copper wiring has been stolen. There is significant structural damage, mold, a rodent infestation, and no electricity or lights. Most of the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, water, and septic systems are either obsolete or inoperable.
Faced with a whopping $3.5 million repair bill, the Museum of New Mexico’s Board of Regents made the difficult decision last year to demolish the building. Board of Regent’s President, Dr. George Goldstein, calls the building, “A loss, a huge loss.”
“What a complete waste of taxpayer dollars,” says State Rep. Gail Armstrong who’s District 49 includes the museum site. And what did taxpayers get for their $4,000,000 investment? “Nothing. It just cost them a ton of money. Nothing,” Representative Armstrong said.
This week, a state-hired demolition crew began the task of tearing down the museum complex. Tons of concrete, steel, and glass will be hauled away. The parking lot and nearby caretaker’s house will also be ripped out. The prairie will be graded, reseeded with native plants, and returned to the Bureau of Land Management in restored, pristine condition. The demolition project is expected to take four months.
The El Camino Real museum was planned and built during the Governor Bill Richardson administration. All of the State Legislators involved in the funding of the museum project have since left government service.
Soon, the El Camino Real International Heritage Center will be just a bitter memory. All clues to the existence of a pricey government blunder will have been erased. Pay a visit to the remote spot south of Socorro later this fall, and all you will find will be desert creosote, prairie dogs, and a few rattlesnakes.
CLOVIS, New Mexico (KVII) — A baby giraffe was born at the Hillcrest Park Zoo in Clovis.
The city announced a male calf was born around 1 a.m. Thursday to Jerrica, a Rothschild giraffe who has lived at the zoo since she was born there in January 2012.
Zoo officials said Jerrica, a first-time mother, and her calf are doing well.
Baby giraffe born at the Hillcrest Park Zoo in Clovis, New Mexico on July 9, 2026 (Credit: Hillcrest Park Zoo )
The calf will make his public debut from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment you won’t want to miss! Bring your family, your camera, and your excitement as we welcome the zoo’s newest (and tallest!) superstar!” said the zoo.
Because the calf is male, he will eventually be moved from Hillcrest Park Zoo to another zoo or facility, according to the city.
The zoo plans to ask the public to help name the calf in the coming weeks.
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