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Committee tables minimum wage bill
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By Robert Nott, The Santa Fe New Mexican
Legislative efforts to again increase the state’s minimum wage took a blow Monday after opponents effectively killed a bill to raise wage rates.
Members of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee voted 6-4 to table House Bill 28, which would have raised the minimum wage based on the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation rates. “It’s dead, the committee tabled it,” Rep. Miguel García, D-Albuquerque, sponsor of HB 28, said after the vote.
Two Democrats joined four Republicans to table the bill after about two hours of discussion.
The committee’s move to table HB 28 may not bode well for House Bill 25, which would not only increase the minimum wage annually based on cost of living increases, but bump the current $12 hourly minimum wage to $13.50 by Jan. 1, 2024 and then to $15.50 by Jan. 1, 2025.
Before the committee voted on García’s bill, Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, asked the committee to push back consideration of HB 25 until later this week. Chandler is one of five sponsors, all Democrats, of HB 25.
Chandler said in an interview she wants time to refashion the bill after speaking with members of the committee.