New Mexico Aims to Limit Liability from Space Flights Similar to Virginia and Florida

The New Mexico Legislature may seek to limit lawsuits stemming from southern New Mexico's Spaceport America similar to action taken by Virginia in 2007 and Florida in 2008.

Senate Bill 37, the "Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act" sponsored by Sen. Clinton Harden, R-Clovis, New Mexico wants space flight participants to acknowledge that "commercial human space flight activities involve inherent risks that cannot be eliminated or controlled through the exercise of reasonable care, and that justify the exculpation of ordinary negligence, and that these inherent risks provide the challenge and excitement that entice space flight participants."

The New Mexico Fiscal Impact Report on Senate Bill 37 provides details noting that it was modeled from the Virginia measure.