Bill to overhaul NM unemployment fund pay-ins approved by Senate

After several years of bickering over New Mexico’s jobless fund, the Senate today voted 40-2 to approve legislation that backers say could take the politics out of the fund’s management.

Senate Bill 334, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, would allow the Department of Workforce Solutions to set part of the formula that would be used to determine how much money businesses would be required to pay into the unemployment fund.

The new formula would not be implemented for nearly two years — it would take effect in January 2015.

In recent years, the Legislature has set the premiums businesses pay into the jobless fund on a yearly basis. Critics have said that practice adds politics into what should be a market-driven process and makes it hard to adjust to fluctuations in the fund.

“We will not have to bring this issue to the Legislature any more on how these rates are done,” Ingle told his colleagues during today’s Senate debate.

Gov. Susana Martinez, who has clashed in the past with the Democratic-controlled Legislature, is supporting the changes to the unemployment fund premium calculations.

The bill now advances to the House.

Check tomorrow’s Journal for more information.