Paid family and medical leave bill advances

Feb. 9—Less than a year after passing a bill requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers, Democrats are pushing a proposal to establish a paid family and medical leave law in New Mexico.

Senate Bill 11, which the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee endorsed on a 6-2 vote Thursday, would create a family and medical leave fund administered by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

Both employees and employers would be required to contribute to the fund. While the bill exempts employers with fewer than five workers, which represents about 66% of businesses in New Mexico, employees at those businesses would still have to pay into the fund and receive the benefit.

The cost for employers would be $4 for every $1,000 of wages. For employees, it would be $5 for every $1,000 of wages. For a full-time, minimum-wage employee, the cost would be about $2.30 a week, according to the Southwest Women's Law Center, which is among the bill's proponents.

Starting in 2026, the fund would "ensure up to 12 weeks of partially paid leave for employees to welcome a new child, care for a family member with a serious health condition or manage their own serious medical condition," the lead sponsor, Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, told the committee.

A fiscal impact report on the bill states an employee would have to pay into the fund for at least six months to receive the benefit.

"It might be interesting for you to know that the United States of America is the only industrialized country that does not offer paid family and medical leave," she said. "We seem to be behind the times, and this bill tries to make New Mexico in that vanguard of states who are trying to do this."

Stewart said the bill reflects the work of a task force comprised of business interests, labor unions and others.

"We looked at other states," she said. "We tried to find the state that looked most like New Mexico."

Eleven states, including Colorado and California, as well as the District of Columbia, offer paid family and medical leave.

The proposal drew opposition from the business community during its first legislative hearing.

"Our restaurants are struggling to still come back from the pandemic," said Mary Kay Root, a lobbyist for the New Mexico Restaurant Association. "Many of them are one disaster away from closing down. Increasing their taxes and administrative burden could be devastating for them and their employees while they attempt to navigate supply chain issues, inflation and administration of the Healthy Workplaces Act" signed into law last year.

J.D. Bullington, a lobbyist representing the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, said the proposal imposes a "new tax" on employers and workers. But the bigger cost would be the "massive disruption" it would cause to workplaces statewide, he said.

"We recently raised the minimum wage by 60% and mandated a new paid sick leave benefit," he said. "Combined with inflation, workforce shortages and supply chain problems, Senate Bill 11 is simply way too big of a step right now."

Supporters of the bill include AARP, the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.

Leah Sanchez, co-executive director of the New Mexico Public Health Association, also spoke in favor of the bill.

"As public health professionals, we know that the main drivers of individual and community well-being are social and economic factors and yet many New Mexico communities face high rates of poverty," she said. "Access to paid family leave would greatly improve the financial security of women and families, particularly low-wage essential workers who kept New Mexicans safe and fed during the COVID-19 pandemic."

The bill would appropriate $36.5 million to the Department of Workforce Solutions for the administrative cost of establishing the proposed program.

"When we start the fund, we pay it all back at $6 million a year," Stewart said.

Stewart noted the department would have about 1 1/2 years to promulgate rules and otherwise prepare to launch the program.

Sarita Nair, the department's Cabinet secretary, called the bill "workable" but told legislators rule-making and sufficient funding would be key to the program's success. The additional time to get the program up and running will be beneficial, she said.

"It is an expensive program both to start up and to administer," she said. "I think the worst-case scenario would be passing this bill and then underfunding it because then nobody is going to be happy."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.