By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote

The family leave bill is another great idea New Mexico can’t afford.

Progressive Democrats passed House Bill 11 through two committees and the House, changing its name and its more onerous provisions while ignoring the state’s employers, who are saying loud and clear that they can’t afford it. For many, it would be disastrous.

The rebranded Welcome Child and Family Wellness Leave Act would allow workers to take up to six weeks of paid time off to care for a loved one, deal with serious health issues, welcome a foster child, grieve the loss of a child, or recover from domestic violence. New parents could take 12 weeks of leave, keep their jobs and receive $3,000 a month for the first three months.

Supporters would pay for this through a tax on employers (they call it a “contribution”) of 0.15% of their payroll, or $1.50 on every $1,000; employees would “contribute” 0.2% of their income, or $2 of every $1,000 they earn. Businesses with fewer than five employees would be exempt, but their employees would still be eligible for benefits.

Opponents like the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce say this would be the largest tax increase in state history. The new child benefit would come from the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department – still taxpayer money. New Mexico would be the poorest state to create a paid family leave program.

For the last House committee hearing, the room was packed, and 25 people stood in the hall hoping to testify. Lawmakers heard employers say the bill puts them in an impossible situation. They can try to find a temporary employee in a tight labor market and then train them only to dismiss them six weeks or three months later, when they’ll be on the hook for unemployment. Or they can stretch an already stretched staff and pay overtime to maintain the absent employee’s duties.

This is particularly acute for caregivers like Santa Maria El Mirador in Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties, which serves people with intellectual disabilities. CEO Patricia Romero worries about staff burnout as well as quality of care for her clients.

Restaurant owners grapple with the same issues. “This will kill restaurants,” said one. “It will hurt the people it’s intended to help.”

Shaylynn Jim said she drives 300 miles a week from the Navajo Reservation to her job in Gallup. The employee contribution might not sound like a lot of money, she said, but “I need every penny I rightfully earn.”

Tom Patterson, of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, told the committee that bill sponsors don’t understand the demands of agriculture. “When work needs to be done, it needs to be done,” he said.

The paid family leave bill has been the source of much bad behavior in the Roundhouse.

Last year, after the bill failed by two votes in the House, its last stop before the governor’s desk, progressives cannibalized their own – targeting and punishing Democratic moderates who opposed the bill. They got rid of three by running candidates against them in primaries.

One of their victims was Rep. Harry Garcia, of Grants. After his fellow Grants legislator, Rep. Eliseo Alcon, resigned and then died, it appeared Garcia might return as Alcon’s replacement, but he didn’t live in Alcon’s district. The governor recently appointed Martha Garcia, of Pine Hill, and Garcia promptly voted against HB 11 in the House. She joined four moderates who voted no: Patty Lundstrom of Gallup, Wonda Johnson of Church Rock, Marian Matthews of Albuquerque, and Joseph Sanchez of Alcalde.

Progressives probably have the votes to shove HB 11 down everyone’s throats, and it will hurt the economy just as rash actions by Republicans in Washington D.C. are also hurting the economy. Each side assumes it will be in power forever. They ignore economic consequences at their peril.

Sherry Robinson is a longtime New Mexico reporter and editor. She has worked in Grants, Gallup, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Business Weekly and Albuquerque Tribune. She is the author of four books. Her columns won first place in 2024 from New Mexico Press Women.