New Mexico’s paid family leave bill proposal, Senate Bill 11, failed to make it through the New Mexico House after passing the New Mexico Senate, though the concept still has its supporters and doubters.
Senate Bill 11 would have mandated paid family and medical leave for all workers. This has been a topic of discussion for years amongst the New Mexico legislature, as a similar bill was proposed in 2021 and didn’t get off the ground.
“SB 11 is a mandate for paid time off that would add a new tax on workers and employers that neither can afford,” The New Mexico Business Coalition in a public, online newsletter. “Working families and businesses are already struggling with the worst inflation in decades and this new tax could be the last straw for many businesses.”
Opponents of this proposal say that it will hurt small businesses, which don’t have the kind of money flow and overhead to support giving all employees these benefits without hurting their businesses.
The proposed legislation would require employees to contribute about $5 for every $1,000 they make to the paid family and medical leave fund.
Several states have passed paid family and medical leave laws like SB11, which gives more protections than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees that employees will have the same or equivalent job when they come back to work but does not guarantee that they will be paid.
Critics of SB11 said that the bill was too broad and not quite right for the intricacies of New Mexico. Two democrats and four republicans on the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee voted against tabling the bill, against five democrats who supported it, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
It is generally thought that New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham supported the bill, though she never made a public statement about it, the Journal said..