With tens of millions of tax dollars spent to build Spaceport USA, New Mexicans have a vested interest in its success. It was and remains a visionary project. Just as in the early days of flight, the government and private entities -- in our case, Virgin Galactic -- came together to help construct a hub for travel. Then, it was airports built for airplane flights; today, it will be both tourist flights and commercial expeditions into space.

Now, executives of Virgin Galactic are backing legislation they say is crucial to helping the spaceport prosper. Called the Expand Space Flight Informed Consent, the law basically makes it harder to sue in case of an accident during a spaceflight so long as passengers have signed the proper consent forms. Some indemnification exists already, but the new legislation expands protections for companies in the supply chain. Right now, liability is limited for Virgin Galactic itself, but not for the businesses that build parts of the spacecraft, for example. Even with the limited liability, passengers (or their survivors) could sue in cases of gross negligence. Nonpassengers hurt by spacecraft gone wild also would retain all legal rights.

The bill as written is similar to those passed in Virginia, Texas and Florida, and would keep New Mexico competitive with those states as space business grows. One could argue that it's also along the lines of the New Mexico Ski Safety Act, which limits lawsuits against the operators of ski areas. Like spaceflight, skiing is inherently risky, and the waiver its adherents sign acknowledges those risks.

Generally, we abhor that states must continue to out-do each other -- whether in tax breaks or legal loopholes -- to attract corporate business. That's true whether we are talking about wooing filmmaking, oil production and now, the space industry of the future. However, New Mexico has invested millions in the spaceport and stands to make millions more in tax revenues over the years. We are competitive -- for now -- in the race for space tourism and private commercial spaceflights. This bill would keep New Mexico on an equal footing and protect our considerable investment, while at the same time still holding businesses accountable for gross negligence.

Even so, spaceport backers have not been able to persuade lawmakers to pass the bill. Instead, legislators weighed testimony of trial lawyers more heavily than that of space experts -- to the lawyers, the threat of lawsuits would ensure safety and bring jobs more surely than immunity. Unfortunately, that's not the perception of the space industry that actually has such jobs to offer. For now, the legislation appears dead this session, left floundering in both House and Senate committees earlier this week. The session is not over, though. There's time to revive the issue before New Mexico loses any more space business.