Despite changes, paid worker leave bill voted down again

SANTA FE — A renewed attempt to enact a state-run paid worker leave plan bit the dust Saturday in a Senate committee, as changes made to the bill in an attempt to get it across the Roundhouse finish line instead led to the measure’s defeat.

After a barrage of concerns from Democrats and Republicans, from a lack of funding to hurting businesses to the bill not going far enough, the Senate Finance Committee on Saturday voted 8-3 not to pass House Bill 11.

“We’ll just keep soldiering on until we get the bill through,” bill sponsor Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, told the Journal after the committee vote. “I was hoping and expecting it was going to be this year, and that expectation was based on all the compromises we had made and all the listening we had done.”

Indeed, the measure was once a very different bill. First introduced in 2019 as the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, the many iterations have explored different funding mechanisms, including scenarios where only employees pay into a leave fund to the state fully covering it.

The approach to this year’s bill, which sponsors ironed out last month to help it pass through a key House committee, came in two parts: $9,000 baby rebates for new, working parents and up to six weeks paid medical leave, covered by new premiums on workers and most employers.

The legislation as introduced initially this year would’ve mandated higher premiums from employers and employees to pay for parental and medical leave and allowed for more medical time off.

Bill sponsors made the changes to appease some more moderate Democrats and business leaders, and HB11 successfully passed the House for the first time — something bill sponsor Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, has been urging the House to do. The Senate in the last two years has passed the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act.

Stewart said on Saturday afternoon that HB11 wasn’t the right solution, with its reduced medical leave timeframe and baby rebates.

“The changes made this year resulted in a bill that no longer upholds many of the provisions we strongly supported in the original version. ... It just doesn’t quite work for what families really need or when they need it,” Stewart said in a statement.

She added, “We’re not done yet. We will continue working to find a solution that benefits both New Mexico families and the businesses that support our workforce.”

Bill sponsor Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said the House sponsors did what they needed with the bill to get it through the chamber it’s historically held up in. It passed with seven extra votes.

“As legislators, we all realize perfection is the enemy of the good, and I think we have to do what we can to meet in the middle,” Serrato told the Journal.

Chandler said it’s perplexing the Senate Finance Committee in the last two years has passed a more expansive Paid Family and Medical Leave Act but wouldn’t let the slimmed-down version through this year. Three Democrats who voted for the bill in past years voted against it Saturday: Sens. Pete Campos of Las Vegas, Benny Shendo of Jemez Pueblo and Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales of Ranchos de Taos.

Even the Democrats who voted in favor of the bill started the debate with a list of concerns and questions about it. Sen. Linda Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, said it doesn’t go far enough, while Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, reiterated concerns he voiced earlier in the week about where money for the baby rebates would come from.

The “no” vote from Senate Finance Chair George Muñoz, D-Gallup, wasn’t a surprise, as he’s consistently voted against the bill in the past. This year, he called it one of many unfunded mandates the House of Representatives wants the Senate to pass.

On Saturday, he said the bill is too extreme.

“We can never take a baby step,” Muñoz said. “If you have just mothers with 12 weeks (leave) and families taking care of parents for medical assistance, I’d vote for this all day long.”

At the end of the day, not all once-supportive advocates backed the bill either.

“We really do think that New Mexicans deserve full, comprehensive paid family and medical leave,” said Tracy McDaniel, policy director at the Southwest Women’s Law Center. She’s been very involved in the bill’s legislative progress in the past and acted as a bill expert earlier this year.

However, she said bill sponsors didn’t invite advocates to the table when overhauling the bill last month, and she was disappointed to see paid medical leave timeframes dialed down as well as being unsure of the proposed state-funded baby rebates.

“We’re going to have to be working with sponsors in the interim around how we create something that really works well for New Mexicans,” McDaniel said. “The (paid family and medical leave) coalition continues to think that a contribution-based model works well. … That’s really the way that we create a solvent, sustainable fund.”

Republicans have for years vehemently opposed the measure, which they say would make it harder for New Mexico businesses to operate by not only having to find replacement employees for up to 12 weeks but also having to pay new premiums.

The sentiments echo those of influential business leaders in New Mexico, as well as small-town employers.

Rita Chaparro owns Rope’s Western and Casual Wear in Clayton, a town of about 2,500 people in northeastern New Mexico. She learned about the paid leave proposal from the Journal.

“It will literally kill our small businesses,” Chaparro said. “We cannot add another tax.”

Her own store wouldn’t be affected, as it only has two employees — the legislation would only tax employers with five or more workers. But Chaparro said she’s concerned about the other shops and restaurants in the town that are struggling to stay open.

“We’re really having a hard time. So no more adding anything to our plate, please,” she said.

Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee on Saturday also had issues with the lack of details in the 36-page bill.

“It just sounds like an absolute employment nightmare,” said Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, R-Albuquerque. “And I can see the lawsuits.”

While it may be the end of the line this year for a Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, bill sponsors and advocates say they’ll be back.

“If you’re asking if the House will stop fighting for working families? Never,” Serrato said.