Latest attempt to pay NM legislators a salary unlikely to be revived after tie vote

SANTA FE — The latest attempt to allow New Mexico voters to decide whether legislators should be paid a salary appears to be dead for this year’s 60-day session.

Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, the sponsor of the proposed constitutional amendment, said Thursday it was unlikely to be revived after stalling on a tie vote this week in the Senate Finance Committee.

“Unless the votes were to change in (that committee), I don’t think it’s a great use of time,” Duhigg told the Journal.

But she also said she believes the proposal would have enough votes to pass on the Senate floor, if it were to arrive there.

“There’s definitely an increased desire for this,” Duhigg said.

New Mexico is the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do receive a per diem payment while in session that’s intended to cover food and lodging expenses. That payment is currently set at $202 per day, but is set to jump to $247 per day in March.

In addition, lawmakers can opt in to a legislative retirement plan that has been expanded in recent years.

However, a number of lawmakers have resigned in recent years for financial or familial reasons, with some saying the sacrifice required to serve in the Legislature was too great.

This year’s proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 1, would allow voters to decide whether the state should create a nine-member commission to determine an appropriate salary level for legislators.

If approved by voters, the legislative salaries would then take effect in July 2030.

Mason Graham, the policy director for Common Cause New Mexico, said the issue of paying legislators a salary has been discussed at the Roundhouse for more than a decade.

“We see this as a way to kind of close that financial gap, to make sure that folks who want to serve can,” Graham said.

He also said a similar proposal would be filed in the House of Representatives before Thursday’s bill-filing deadline in a last-ditch attempt to keep the issue alive during this year’s session.

But that proposal would also likely have to pass through the Senate Finance Committee, where the Senate proposal stalled.

Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said the idea of paying legislators a salary is not a partisan one, even though most New Mexico Republicans have opposed it in recent years.

Two Democrats — Sens. Pete Campos of Las Vegas and George Muñoz of Gallup — joined with Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee this week in casting “no” votes that ultimately blocked the proposal from advancing.

During the hearing, Muñoz said paying lawmakers a salary would not necessarily improve the quality of legislators.

“Now we’re going to have people running for a paycheck,” he said.

Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, R-Albuquerque, who also voted against the proposal, said the Legislature already has a diverse membership, citing the state’s first-ever female majority of lawmakers.

“We’re pretty diverse and we have pretty diverse backgrounds,” she said. “And we’re here in the spirit of what volunteerism is for every person in New Mexico.”

While the idea of paying New Mexico legislators a salary has struggled to win approval at the Roundhouse, lawmakers have adopted other changes intended to help “modernize” the Legislature.

That includes a vote last year allowing each legislator to hire a year-round aide. Previously, only lawmakers in top leadership positions had permanent staffers.