In its final vote of the 2024 session, the Senate “blazed” through House Bill 251 as substituted, sending the governor legislation to grant Smokey Bear a personalized license plate on his 80th birthday.
The story behind the plate: The Library of Congress Blogs say that while the bear began as a fictional character, “in 1950, his name was bestowed on a bear cub who was rescued from a forest fire in New Mexico. There were two back-to-back forest fires in early May 1950 in the Capitan Mountains, which are part of the Lincoln National Forest.”
HB 251 co-sponsor Sen. William F. Burt (R-Chaves, Lincoln and Otero) thanked colleagues on behalf of Lincoln County and Smokey.
