Heat is building under the campaign to let Coloradans put something delicious on your license plate and honor southern Colorado chile growers.

Lawmakers in Colorado and New Mexico are running legislation to create their respective chiles – the Pueblo Chile for Colorado and the Hatch chile from New Mexico.

The fight is about more than license plates. It’s about brand superiority. The Pueblo Chile is in the midst of a branding campaign, which is apparently making people south of the state border a little hot under the collar.

Colorado’s license plate is just one step ahead.

House Bill 1012, sponsored by Rep. Daneya Esgar, D -Pueblo, passed the state House on a voice vote Tuesday, but it still needs to pass on a recorded vote, scheduled for this morning, to move to the Senate.

“This is not just a silly little bill, or a silly little license place,” Esgar told the House before the vote. “This is an actual piece of moving economic development that’s happening in southern Colorado.

“I really want to emphasize that Pueblo Chile is Colorado’s chile.”

She urged lawmakers to support it “so we can beat New Mexico.”

State Rep. Clarice Navarro, R-Pueblo, made sure Pueblo Chile was served at a Latino inaugural ball for President Trump in January. She was on the host committee.

In New Mexico, Republican Rep. Cathrynn Brown of Carlsbad passed her bill out of committee last week, and its scheduled for another committee hearing Wednesday.

“Chile is an iconic product of New Mexico,” she said.

The Associated Press story noted that Brown is sweating the race with Colorado.

Chile is the state vegetable and the reason for the official state question, “red or green?

Legislators had some fun with the Colorado chile bill Tuesday.

“This bill to me is just too hot to handle,” joked Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs. “And it’s really bringing tears to my eyes.”