Every jurisdiction in this catalog has entries whose figures move when a bill passes, whose act takes effect on a later date, or whose program is repealed while its agency keeps advertising it. This page watches each jurisdiction's law, follows a bill through its own jurisdiction's process where its stages are recorded, and names the catalog entries each instrument touches.
11 instruments in New Mexico. Tracked across 51 jurisdictions. Every other jurisdiction on the board is still watched by hand.
A bill that died is listed only where a guide, an agency, or a news story has described it as current law. That is the failure that puts a number in front of a veteran which no assessor, registrar, or school will honor.
▲▼Expands and restrictsRequires continuous occupancy and moves the claim deadline to thirty days after the notice of value, but adds a protest route for a veteran whose VA claim is pending.
Amended NMSA 1978, §§ 7-37-5.1, 7-38-17, 7-38-21 and 7-38-24 with an emergency clause. The disabled veteran must occupy the property "continuously" as a principal residence under department regulations; two disabled veteran owners use the higher percentage. It deleted former § 7-38-17(H), which since 2023 had let a disabled veteran file proof of eligibility at any time in the tax year, so the claim is now due thirty days after the notice of value, and added § 7-38-17(E)(2), which lets a veteran with a pending VA claim protest and attach VA's notice of receipt. The new paragraph cites that notice as "35 U.S.C. 5103"; it is 38 U.S.C. 5103. Signed February 25, 2026. Flagged because DVS Form 1 (revised March 2025) and 3.6.6.13 NMAC (July 2024) both predate it, and the rule predates the proportional exemption itself.
▲Expands benefitsWould have removed the $30,000 cap on the armed forces retirement income tax exemption.
Would have removed the $30,000 cap in NMSA 1978, § 7-2-5.13. Reported with a do pass recommendation by the House Labor, Veterans' and Military Affairs Committee on February 4, 2026 and then postponed indefinitely in House Taxation and Revenue. Senate Bill 497 of 2025, to the same effect, also died. The cap is $30,000.
▼Restricts benefitsWould have removed the rule letting a disabled veteran file proof of eligibility for the property tax exemption at any time in the tax year.
Would have amended NMSA 1978, § 7-38-17 to remove the rule letting a disabled veteran file proof of eligibility at any time in the tax year. The Governor vetoed it on April 11, 2025 (House Executive Message No. 27), saying it made the benefit harder to obtain "by changing the current one-year window to apply to a mere 30 days". Tracked because House Bill 285 of 2026, which she signed, deleted the same window while adding a protest route for pending VA claims.
▲Expands benefitsGives every resident veteran, including six-year Guard and reserve members, a lifetime pass for day use and camping at state parks.
Rewrote NMSA 1978, § 16-2-7.1. The old section gave a veteran rated 50 percent or more one annual day-use pass and one three-day camping pass. The new one gives every resident veteran, including six-year Guard and reserve members and PHS and NOAA officers, not separated under dishonorable conditions, a day-use pass for unlimited entry and a camping pass for unlimited use. Signed March 20, 2025, effective June 20, 2025; State Parks began issuing the lifetime pass on July 1, 2025.
▲Expands benefitsRaised the veteran exemption to $10,000 indexed and made the disabled veteran exemption proportional to the rating.
Implemented the November 2024 constitutional amendments. NMSA 1978, § 7-37-5 now gives $4,000 through tax year 2024, $10,000 for 2025, and from 2026 the $10,000 multiplied by the ratio of the prior year's consumer price index to the 2025 index, which leaves 2026 at $10,000. § 7-37-5.1 dropped "one hundred percent" and "and total" and exempts the rating percentage of taxable value after the veteran exemption, for the 2026 and later tax years. Signed March 20, 2025, effective immediately.
▲Expands benefitsRequires an exemption for a veteran with any service-connected rating, in proportion to the rating, where only a 100 percent rating qualified before.
Requires the Legislature to exempt the principal residence of every veteran with a "permanent service-connected disability" in "a percentage equal to the percentage of the veteran's disability rating", and the same amount for a widow or widower who keeps occupying it. Approved by voters on November 5, 2024 and carried into statute by Laws 2025, ch. 10 for the 2026 tax year. The amendment was not self-executing.
▲Expands benefitsRaises the veteran property tax exemption from $4,000 to $10,000 and indexes it.
The amended section says $4,000 through 2023, $10,000 "in 2024" and inflation adjustment "in 2025 and each subsequent year". The implementing statute, Laws 2025, ch. 10, runs a year behind: $4,000 through 2024, $10,000 for 2025, indexing from 2026.
▲Expands benefitsMade the $30,000 armed forces retirement exemption permanent and extended it to surviving spouses.
Amended NMSA 1978, § 7-2-5.13, replacing the 2022 schedule that ended with taxable year 2026 by a flat $30,000 with no end date, and adding the surviving spouse of an armed forces retiree, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. Signed March 6, 2024. Guides still describe the exemption as running through 2026.
▲Expands benefitsMade military status, including veteran status, a protected class under the Human Rights Act.
Added "military status" to NMSA 1978, §§ 28-1-2 and 28-1-7, defined as active membership in or being a veteran of the armed forces or state defense force, including a spouse or child, with no discharge test. Also exempted Defense Department and Coast Guard child care from state licensing and added the Space Force to armed forces definitions, including § 21-1-4.5, though not to the reserve list in § 9-22-3. Signed February 29, 2024, effective May 15, 2024.
▲Expands benefitsLets a disabled veteran rated 50 percent or more put free plates on two vehicles, including motorcycles, and buy more at standard fees.
Rewrote NMSA 1978, § 66-3-412 for veterans rated 50 percent or more: no plate or registration fee for up to two plates, which may be any combination of special plates the veteran qualifies for, and further disabled veteran plates at standard fees. The penalty in subsection D still refers to subsection B, the paid-plates paragraph, although the prohibition on false claims is now subsection C. Signed April 5, 2023.
▼Restricts benefitsRepealed the income tax credits of up to $1,000 for an employer that hires a recently discharged veteran.
Section 28 of the act repealed NMSA 1978, §§ 7-2-18.28 and 7-2A-27, the personal and corporate income tax credits of up to $1,000 for hiring a recently discharged veteran, effective July 1, 2023. Signed March 30, 2023. Flagged because the Department of Veterans' Services' benefits page and the Army benefits library still advertise the credit.
A bill moves when the people who vote on it hear from the people it affects. Enter your address to see who represents you in Congress and in your state legislature, and where to get free, accredited help with a VA claim: your county veterans service officer or town veterans’ agent, and your state’s service offices.