Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the Legislature. LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports if they
are used for other purposes.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Lord/De La Cruz/Pettigrew/Henry/Sanchez
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 02/26/2025
SHORT TITLE Elk License Plate
BILL
NUMBER House Bill 580
ANALYST Montano
REVENUE*
(dollars in thousands)
Type FY25 FY26 FY27 FY28 FY29
Recurring or
Nonrecurring
Fund
Affected
TRD $0 $1.0 $1.0 $1.0 $1.0 Recurring
MVD
Suspense
Fund
DGF $0 $1.5** $2.5** $3.5** $4.5** Recurring
Game
Protection
Fund
Parentheses ( ) indicate revenue decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
**Revenue totals are reflected if a batch of 100 license plates is sold, and if every license plate buyer renews their
license plate every year.
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT*
(dollars in thousands)
Agency/Program
FY25 FY26 FY27
3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring or
Nonrecurring
Fund
Affected
TRD/MVD
No fiscal
impact
$32.0
No fiscal
impact
$32.0 Nonrecurring
MVD
Suspense
Fund
TRD/MVD
No fiscal
impact
$0.8 $0.8 $1.6 Recurring
MVD
Suspense
Fund
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Agency Analysis Received From
Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD) Agency Analysis was Solicited but Not Received From
Department of Game and Fish (DGF)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of House Bill 580
House Bill 580 creates a new specialty license plate featuring an elk design to support the Share House Bill 580 – Page 2
with Wildlife Program of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (DGF). Beginning
January 1, 2026, the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) will issue this standardized special
registration plate, which will be available to all private motor vehicle owners (see Technical
Issues).
To obtain the elk-themed "Share with Wildlife" plate, vehicle owners must pay an initial fee of
$25.00, in addition to standard vehicle registration fees. To renew the plate, an annual renewal
fee of $10.00 is required. The bill outlines how the collected fees will be distributed:
$10.00 from the initial fee will be retained by MVD to cover the cost of producing and
issuing the plates.
$15.00 from the initial fee, along with all renewal fees, will be allocated to the Share with
Wildlife Program within the game protection fund, which supports wildlife conservation
and habitat restoration projects in New Mexico.
Additionally, HB 580 includes a review mechanism to determine whether the plate remains
available. Starting July 1, 2031, and annually thereafter, MVD will evaluate the number of plates
issued and renewed in the previous fiscal year. If the total falls below 50% of the average annual
issuance between 2026 and 2031, MVD may discontinue production of the plate.
This bill does not contain an effective date and, as a result, would go into effect 90 days after the
Legislature adjourns if enacted, or June 20, 2025.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
TRD cannot accurately predict how many of these plates will be requested. TRD can report the
total cost of manufacturing and distributing each license plate will be about $10, which is
covered by the $10 that TRD retains from the $25 initial fee. TRD highlights:
Creation of the new specialty plate must be in accordance with existing state statute under
Section 66-3-424D2 NMSA 1978, which states that entities registering a registration
plate with a logo “shall provide a prepayment to the division in an amount sufficient to
cover the plate and logo costs of the initial order.” Typically, the initial fee to purchase
plates is $800; $250 for design/artwork costs while $5.50 is charged for each plate in the
initial batch of 100.
If 100 of these plates were sold, then TRD would generate $1,000 dollars in revenue, which is
sufficient to cover the initial purchase of $800. A projection for the implementation of HB 580 is
that TRD will gain $1,000 dollars in revenue and would gain more depending on how many
batches of license plates are required.
DGF will collect $15.00 in revenue per plate sold and an additional $10 for the renewable license
fee to be used for the Share with Wildlife Program. If TRD only creates one batch of 100 license
plates, then DGF will generate $1,500 in revenue from the initial fee and a subsequent $1,000 for
every year if all 100 license plate owners renew their license plate. If TRD continues to sell at
least 100 license plates a year, then each subsequent year will experience $1,000 more of
renewable license fees compared to the previous year due to there being 100 new license plate
owners. This recurring source of revenue is just a floor, and DGF should project at least $2,500
of revenue generated for FY26, with a $1,000 increase for each subsequent year if all new House Bill 580 – Page 3
license plate owners renew. The potential revenue generated for DGF is dependent on the total
number of batches of license plates TRD makes and sells.
Regarding the implications for TRD’s operating budget, TRD notes the following:
The Tapestry System’s general ledger and reporting will need to be updated for the new
distribution.
The estimated time to develop, test and implement the changes is approximately
480 hours or 3 months for an estimated $32 thousand of staff workload cost.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
TRD said:
This bill does not specifically say that the Special Wildlife Elk Registration Plate can be
issued to motorcycles as well as passenger vehicles. If it is the intent is to allow the
issuance of the Special Wildlife Elk Registration Plate to motorcycles, a new statute
specifically addressing this addition should be enacted to be constant with other specialty
plates offered to both vehicles and motorcycles. An example would be the Children Trust
Fund plate, under Section 66-3-420 and 66-3-420.1 NMSA 1978.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
TRD said:
This bill requires application and configuration changes to the Tapestry system to create a
Special Wildlife Elk license plate process and registration fee calculation and distribution
for MVD and the share with the wildlife program of the game protection fund.
NM/rl