Breaking: Minimum Wage on Ballot, Supreme Court Rules

The state Supreme Court has ruled that Albuquerque’s minimum wage initiative must be placed on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

The justices said they were relying on testimony from County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver that there was still time to add the question to the ballot, even though a deadline to certify the ballot had passed. They also said there didn’t appear to be enough time to send the case back to the City Council for it to set an election date.

The initiative calls for raising the minimum wage in the city from $7.50 an hour to $8.50 an hour and a cost of living adjustment.

The City Council last week withdrew a resolution to put the question on the ballot, and proponents took the issue to court.

District Court Judge Nan Nash on Tuesday ruled the city did not have to put the initiative on the ballot, saying the proposition improperly combined different questions into one.

Proponents appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court, which heard arguments late this afternoon.

UPDATE:

The justices made no mention of changing the wording of the minimum-wage question, and I’m told that it will go on the ballot as originally proposed on the petitions.

OLE and other supporters of the wage increase were absolutely jubilant outside the courthouse. They cheered as their attorneys emerged.

“The Supreme Court listens to the people,” OLE President Mary Lee Ortega said in between smiles.

Oliver told me that she’s already contacted the ballot printer to have the wage question added.

I’ll have more in tomorrow’s paper, and I hope to get some reaction from business leaders, too.