A bill that seeks to provide several weeks of paid family and medical leave for workers in the state passed the state senate by a 25 to 15 vote late Friday night after several amendments.

SB 3, sponsored by Senate Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, would enable an employee to take paid time off for family or medical leave. One of the changes to the bill alters how much time an employee can request. Under the bill, an employee can apply for up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to welcome a new child but, if the bill is enacted, an employee can request up to nine weeks for paid medical leave for the first two years of the program.

To qualify for medical leave, the employee would need to have a severe medical condition along with supporting material from a medical provider about the condition, as well as third party verification. An employee can also take up to nine weeks of medical leave when the need arises to care for a family member or person close to them who has a severe medical condition. 

The vote fell along party lines except for state Sen. George Muñoz, a Democrat from Gallup, who sided with Republicans to vote against the bill. Muñoz was the only Democrat to speak against the bill during the four-and-a-half-hour debate.

The current version of the state budget, HB 2, contains a $36 million appropriation for startup costs for the program. Beginning in January 2026, employer and employee contributions, set at 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent respectively, will begin, if the bill is enacted. There are exceptions: Employers with four or fewer employees will not need to contribute to the fund, though the employees will. Self-employed individuals can opt out. Employers who have a comparable program can also opt out. Employees who make $168,000 a year or more can opt out. 

The bill requires the Department of Workforce Solutions, which would administer the program, to hire an actuarial company to audit the fund and provide a report to the legislature each year. The bill also includes a cap of increasing the premiums to 0.1 percent per year if solvency issues arise. The department would have a year to promulgate rules with the help of an advisory committee to advise the secretary of Workforce Solutions during the rule-making process. During that year, the department will also educate and train businesses on the program’s requirements if the bill is enacted. The program would begin taking applications for leave on January 1, 2027.

Another change to the bill, an amendment made by state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, was to change the number of individuals who would sit on the advisory committee from 15 to eight. That group of eight, if the bill is enacted, will be made up of four representatives of the workforce and four representatives from the business community.

Cervantes’ amendment also eliminated the leave option for family of active-duty service members to prepare for a relocation. The amendment also eliminated the eight-hour minimum leave requirement and added a requirement that an employee must provide a 20-day notice when possible. The amendment also changed the 90-day work requirement before an employee taking leave receives job protection to 180 days or six months. 

Cervantes said that as a small business owner himself, this aspect of the bill had concerned him. He said that if an employee invests in his business by working there for six months, then he is ready to invest in the employee by providing job protection while the employee takes paid leave.

Cervantes’ amendment passed the senate by a unanimous vote of 40-0.

Stewart said the amendments to the bill on Friday are to allay some concerns from some members of the business community who have been in vocal opposition to the bill. Stewart said her cosponsors in the House have been in conversation for the last few weeks with some of the business opponents to the bill and the bill sponsors arrived at the compromises, put forth through the amendments she and Cervantes made. 

Stewart said that for the first two years – from 2027 to 2029 – the state would consider the solvency of the fund and then, if the fund remains solvent, an employee could request medical leave up to 12 weeks. She said that if the solvency is not met within two years, then the paid medical leave will remain at up to nine weeks.

Stewart introduced an amendment to the bill, to say that when an employee works for a temporary company, the temporary company pays the employer contribution of the premium, not the company who the temporary employee is working for. 

The amendment also cleaned up some language to say that an employee can only take paid leave once during a calendar year to ensure paid leave does not happen twice within a 12-month period. 

Stewart’s amendment passed the senate by a vote of 25-15 along party lines.

Republicans argued against the bill, with the primary theme being that this bill is a mandate, that it will harm small business owners in New Mexico and that individuals will take advantage of the program. 

State Sen. Gregg Schmedes, R-Tijeras, called it a “difference in worldview.” 

Stewart said that in states that have already passed a paid family and medical leave bill, there is very little fraud reported. She said the bill bans employees found to have committed PFML fraud from applying for benefits for three years. She said the Department of Workforce Solutions will verify claims and that the department will require a third-party verification of the qualifying event. In addition, an employer has the right to appeal the determination. 

“Not all states have that and we added it as an additional check against fraud,” Stewart said. 

She said that the department can also bring its own action to go after fraudulent claimants.

Stewart also countered the argument that small businesses do not want a paid family and medical leave policy. She said that she and the other sponsors have found support in the small business community for the program.

The bill heads next to the House