It’s likely that attempts to work out a compromise on the particulars of raising the state’s minimum wage will be made in secret.
The House approved on Thursday a different version of the proposal than the one already approved by the Senate, which will be asked to concur with the House version. The Senate president says that’s not likely.
If he’s right, the dispute will be debated in a secret conference committee – the same place where the proposal died last year.
The bill in question is Senate Bill 324, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano,
The version approved by the House on Thursday, on a vote of 39-29, would raise the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour in July 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 also exempts agricultural workers and some others.
The version that has been approved by the Senate, on a vote of 35-7, 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 some others and keeps cities and counties from passing their own wage increases, with the exception of those that have already done it –
On Thursday, all House Republicans and Democratic Rep. Dona Irwin of Deming voted against the bill. All other Democrats voted for it, except Elias Barela of Belen and George Hanosh of Grants, who did not vote.
House Republicans, in a Thursday news release, accused Speaker of the House Ben Lujan of playing politics with an important issue. They support the Senate version of the bill and Lujan, D-Nambé, has been the champion of the version approved by the House.
Lujan “has chosen to play politics rather than pass a common-sense bill to raise the minimum wage,” the release states.
But the House did make one attempt at compromise in exempting agricultural and other workers – something that was not in the original version of the House bill. Altamirano told the Albuquerque Journal he does not believe the Senate is willing to compromise.
If he’s right, two Democrats and one Republican from each chamber will attempt, in secret, to find a solution.