A proposal to increase the state’s minimum wage underwent another significant change in a House committee Monday as lawmakers struggle to find compromise.
Senate Bill 324, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City, was approved by the House Business and Industry Committee on a vote of 7-6, but it more closely mirrors a House proposal than the one approved by the Senate.
The bill is on the House temporary calendar, so there’s a chance it could be voted on today.
Two weeks ago, the House Labor and Human Resources Committee amended Altamirano’s bill to mirror House Bill 759, sponsored by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Nambé. The bills differ on key points, and a failure to find compromise torpedoed the wage increase proposal in 2006.
There have been a lot of confusing changes, so here’s where things stand:
• The current version of Altamirano’s bill, as approved by the House committee on Monday, raises the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour this year and $7.50 per hour next year. It includes indexing that would increase the minimum wage in the future to keep up with inflation and does not prohibit local governments from passing their own, higher wage increases.
Thanks to an amendment by the committee, it also exempts agricultural workers and provides other exemptions, including some employees of charities.
• The version that has been approved by the Senate would raise the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour in 2008 and $7.50 per hour in 2009. It does not include indexing that would increase the minimum wage in the future to keep up with inflation, exempts agricultural workers and keeps cities and counties from passing their own wage increases, with the exception of those that have already done it – Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.
• Lujan’s bill would raise the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour this year and $7.50 per hour next year. It includes indexing that would increase the minimum wage in the future to keep up with inflation and does not prohibit local governments from passing their own, higher wage increases. It does not exempt any workers.
So, essentially, the new version of the bill moving through the House includes most of the provisions of Lujan’s bill but one, key provision of Altamirano’s bill – the exemptions for agricultural and other workers.