Courtesy of The Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce

Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Paid Family Medical Leave bill clears Senate, heads to House
A bill that would raise payroll taxes for both employees and employers and provide for up to three months of paid leave for all New Mexico employees passed the Senate floor Saturday on a largely party-line vote with Republicans being joined by two Democrats in opposition.

Opponents of SB-11 have pointed to the non-partisan Fiscal Impact Report attached to the bill as a reason not to pass it. The study says the bill would require adding 200 employees to Workforce Solutions to implement the plan. It also points out that it could become insolvent within the first two years.

The New Mexico Chamber and the New Mexico Chamber Executives Assn. are urging businesses to contact Representatives and urge them to vote against the bill.

The bill would provide for withholding tax of $5 for every $1,000 they earn and employers would pay $4. Employers with less than five employees wouldn’t be required to contribute but employees would still be taxed.
Abortion access heads back to House for concurrence
A fast moving bill seeking to block local governments from enacting ordinances prohibiting abortion services passed its final hurdle today, passing the Senate floor 23-15, and now goes back to the House for concurrence on two amendments before heading to the Governor’s desk.

Roosevelt County, along with City of Clovis and other southeastern New Mexico governments have passed ordinances that would be affected. The bill is almost guaranteed to be signed by the Governor.
Longer school instructional hours flies through House
The full House unanimously passed HB-130 today. That bill would increase instructional hours in K-12 schools statewide while giving districts flexibility on whether it was accomplished with longer hours or more days. The bill seeks to move schools to 1,140 hours per year.
Voter rights bill clears final Senate committee
HB-4 cleared its final Senate committee early this week and was sent to the Senate floor as it passed Senate Judiciary 6-3. A very similar bill was narrowly defeated last year in a filibuster as time wound down. With about 9 days left in the session, it is not likely this bill will suffer the same fate. However, floor amendments could make things crazy and send the bill back to the House.

The bill would allow for election day registration, automatic registration at MVD offices and other changes.
Two gun control bills moving forward
Two bills on gun control were alive and moving, while others had faltered. One of those would require safe storage of firearms and provide penalties to owners if guns fall into hands of a juvenile who commits a crime. The other bill makes it illegal to advertise certain types of firearms. While those bills both look poised to pass, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is not happy and is threatening to call a special session to address gun control further.
Omnibus tax bill raises its ugly head
As promised, all of the various tax bills that have been tabled or set aside so far this session have been cobbled together into a Frankenstein omnibus tax bill just to ensure excitement down the stretch. The $959 million package would increase personal income taxes, particularly on the highest bracket, which contains most small business owners. It would also increase alcohol taxes drastically and extend the child tax credit.

The Governor isn’t happy with this bill either, though. It proposes to drop the rebates to tax payers backed by Grisham from her suggested $750 per person to $300. There appears to be so much detail in this bill that it is sure to bog down and transform into something totally different before our very eyes.