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A House committee today rejected a proposal to change the state constitution to require the minimum wage to be increased annually, in order to keep up with inflation.
House Joint Resolution 6 failed to pass the Voters and Elections Committee when the panel’s five Republicans and one Democrat, Chairwoman Rep. Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces, voted against it.
The measure would not have increased the state’s minimum wage, which is now $7.50 an hour. Instead it would have provided annual increases linked to the consumer price index. The committee had amended the proposal to cap the increase at 4 percent.
Supporters said New Mexico’s working poor need the annual increase to keep up with the cost of living. But opponents said it would hurt businesses. Garcia said the change should be done in law, rather than in the constitution.
The effect of today’s vote is to leave the measure in the Voters and Elections Committee.
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