Hands go up in the audience as Rep. Doreen Gallegos, chair of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee, asks who is opposed to HB11 during a long meeting of the committee Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, which narrowly voted to advance a revamped version of the proposal for paid family and medical leave. The proposal will go next to the House floor, where a version of a paid family and medical leave bill died in 2024. Photo by Jim Weber/The New Mexican
Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, testifies during a long meeting of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, which narrowly voted to advance a revamped version of her proposal for paid family and medical leave. The proposal will go next to the House floor, where a version of a paid family and medical leave bill died in 2024. Photo by Jim Weber/The New Mexican
By Margaret O’Hara
The Santa Fe New Mexican
It may be Santa Fe Restaurant Week, but representatives from some Santa Fe eateries swapped their restaurants for the Roundhouse Wednesday afternoon.
They showed up to a committee meeting to voice their perspectives — both in favor and against — on New Mexico’s latest proposal for paid family and medical leave.
“As a small business operating on razor-thin margins, we’ve struggled significantly since COVID-19, particularly in finding and retaining quality staff,” Kerry Young told the committee on behalf of Boxcar Bar and Restaurant.
The proposal for paid family and medical leave would only create “additional burdens” for staff as they adjust to workers on leave, Young said.
Santa Fe city councilor and local restaurant owner Alma Castro, though, spoke in favor of the proposal, arguing that the existing system offers “no time to step away” to care for a loved one.
“My over-30-year family-owned business — and so many small businesses — really need you to vote yes on HB 11,” said Castro, owner of Café Castro.
In an hourslong meeting Wednesday, a revamped version of lawmakers’ proposal for paid family and medical leave narrowly survived scrutiny from the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
In a 6-5 vote, the group of lawmakers voted to advance a committee substitute of House Bill 11, which would provide $3,000 per month plus up to 12 weeks of paid leave to one parent after welcoming a new child as well as up to six weeks of “family wellness leave” while receiving a portion of their wages. The benefits would be available starting Jan. 1, 2028.
The committee substitute lessens the premium costs for workers and employers as compared to previous versions of the bill while ensuring workers are able to make use time off when they need it, said bill sponsor Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos.
“That benefits your constituents and, frankly, my constituents and every group of constituents that don’t have a benefit program like this when they become ill,” Chandler told committee members Wednesday.
The proposal will go next to the House Floor — where a version of a paid family and medical leave bill died in 2024.
What’s new with HB 11?
The latest version of HB 11 splits paid family and medical leave into two different chunks, known in the bill as “welcome child” and “family wellness” leave.
The “welcome child” component would apply to families after the birth or adoption of a child, offering to one parent a flat rate of $3,000 per month. Both parents would have access to up to 12 weeks of welcome child leave with job protection.
Though the original version of HB 11 proposed premiums on workers and employers to pay for parental leave, lawmakers now plan to pay for welcome child leave through the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department’s existing budget.
That’s because it’s “near impossible” to find child care during the first three months of a child’s life, co-sponsor Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said during the committee meeting.
“This is vital when we’re looking at our early childhood education and our development of these kids,” she said.
The Early Childhood Education and Care Department’s current annual budget nears $800 million while initial estimates indicate the “welcome child” payments would cost roughly $200 million per year. Chandler said lawmakers are already factoring in that cost as they craft the state’s budget.
“What is the message that we’re sending with the state funding it? The state is committed to families,” Chandler said.
But there is another piece to the HB 11: If passed, the bill would also provide “family wellness leave,” with a portion of workers’ wages available through a fund paid for by employees and employers.
Within the bill, “family wellness leave” is defined to include bereavement leave, medical leave, foster leave, leave pertaining to a family member’s military service, and “safe leave” to take action to protect themselves or a family member from certain types of violence, namely domestic abuse.
Qualifying workers would be able to take up to six weeks of family wellness leave while receiving a portion of their pay equivalent to the state’s minimum wage, plus two-thirds of their remaining salary.
Employers and employees would both contribute premiums to pay for family wellness leave, with workers chipping in the equivalent of 0.2% of their earnings while employers would add in .15% of each eligible workers’ wages. That’s significantly lower than the previously proposed premiums of 0.5% and 0.4% for workers and employers, respectively.
Still, the premiums are a sticking point for many business advocates, who turned out by the dozen on Wednesday to oppose the updated HB 11.
Though employers with five or fewer employees will benefit from the programs without having to pay the premiums, they argued the cost — plus having to work around a missing employee — would nonetheless harm their businesses.
“When they understand that this is a tax in a time of inflation, they don’t want it,” Carla Sonntag of the New Mexico Business Coalition told the committee.
Republicans offer opposition — and an alternative
House Republican leadership took to social media Wednesday morning, encouraging like-minded people to show up to oppose House Bill 11.
“This is the largest tax New Mexicans will ever feel,” House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong said in a video on X, formerly Twitter, announcing Republicans’ alternative.
But, Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, added in the video, “We’re not just here to say no. We realize that paid leave is very important, so we’ve offered a reasonable alternative.”
That alternative is House Bill 446. Sponsored by Dow, the bill would provide workers with a proportion of their wages for six weeks of parental leave, with the possibility of an additional three weeks of leave time for employees that opt-in.
In contrast to HB 11, HB 446 does not provide leave time or compensation for caring for a family member, preparing for a spouse’s military deployment or protect a family member from certain forms of violence.
The funding for HB 446 also flows from a different source, drawing from the state’s Early Childhood Education and Care Fund — which now contains billions of dollars — rather than drawing from a combination of the Early Childhood Education and Care Department’s existing funding and premiums paid by employers and employees.
“There is no reason to tax citizens — to tax you or your employer — when New Mexico has the largest surplus we’ve ever seen,” Dow said in the video.
Republican members brought that same skepticism to the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee, arguing that the proposal will place particular strain on rural areas and amounts to government intrusion of private businesses.
“The more taxes that we implement and the more mandates that we put on employers and employees takes away the ability for employers to help make those decisions,” Armstrong said during the committee meeting.
She finished her committee meeting comments by referencing the paid family and medical leave proposal’s next step: “We’ll see you guys on the floor,” she said.