Paid family and medical leave bill passes New Mexico House
House Bill 11, known as the Welcome Child and Family Wellness Act, would separate medical leave and parental leave.
Mountain West Conference seeks mediation over $55 million in dispute in Pac-12 'poaching' lawsuit
Under the proposal, workers could take up to six weeks of paid time off from a family wellness fund for circumstances including caring for a loved one in need, dealing with a serious health condition, and welcoming a foster child.
Parental leave would be supported separately by a welcome child fund. That would offer 12 weeks of leave for a parent, during which their job would be legally protected. Families would receive $3,000 per month for three months after their child is born or adopted.
The bill passed the New Mexico House of Representatives in a 38-to-31 vote and now goes to the Senate.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Democratic Texas lawmaker passes 24-hour mark on state House floor after refusing GOP demand for law enforcement escort
Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier has now spent over 24 hours on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety. When Texas House Democrats returned to the Capitol in Austin on Monday, after having fled the state earlier this month in order to prevent a vote on a controversial Republican redistricting plan, House Speaker Dustin Burrows put constraints on their movements. Burrows announced that the Democrats could only leave the House floor if they received written permission and agreed to be under law enforcement escort until the chamber reconvenes on Wednesday morning. The Democrats who skipped out on previous attempts to meet quorum for a special session to approve the redrawn congressional maps will have an around-the-clock DPS escort to ensure their presence when the House convenes Wednesday, a legislative aide told CNN. Democrats had fled to blue states — including Illinois, New York and Massachusetts — as they faced civil arrest warrants pushed by GOP officials in Texas to force them back into the House chamber. The majority of the Democrats complied with the law enforcement escort, showing reporters what they called 'permission slips' they received to leave the House floor and pointing to the officers escorting them around the Capitol. But Collier refused to enter into that agreement and has been confined to the House floor since returning. She can only leave the floor to return to her office under the watch of a law enforcement officer, an aide said, and cannot leave the state Capitol unless she agrees to outside supervision. State Reps. Gene Wu and Vince Perez, who signed the 'permission slips' to leave with a police escort yesterday, stayed on the House floor with Collier through the night, the aide said. Rep. Perez left early this morning but Wu remained in the chamber with Collier. Wu posted a photo on X Monday evening detailing some of their snacks for the long stretch ahead - dried peaches, freeze dried grapes, popcorn and ramen. 'My constituents sent me to Austin to protect their voices and rights,' said Collier. 'I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts. My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents — I won't just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination.' Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke celebrated Collier's protest on Monday, writing on social media, 'A true hero, refusing to submit, fighting these fascists by herself if she has to. We are with you Nicole!' Burrows said in a statement, 'Rep. Collier's choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules.' The Texas House Speaker said that he is 'choosing to spend my time focused on' important legislation. The Texas House established a quorum Monday afternoon, for the first time since most members of the Democratic minority fled the state 15 days earlier to prevent it from having the two-thirds quorum necessary to advance new congressional maps aimed at creating five more Republican-leaning seats ahead of next year's midterm elections. Early in their boycott, Burrows had signed civil arrest warrants for those Democrats. But DPS officers could not carry out those warrants because the Democrats were out of state. At President Donald Trump's urging, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republicans who control the state House and Senate launched the effort to redraw the state's congressional districts mid-decade — a break from most states' typical practice of redistricting once a decade, after the completion of the US Census. It's part of the party's effort to hold onto its narrow House majority in next year's midterm elections — one that also includes lobbying GOP officials in Indiana and Missouri to change their maps to turn Democratic-held seats into favorable ground for Republicans, and could see the party add more GOP-leaning seats in Ohio, which is required by state law to redistrict. The Texas effort has set off a nationwide gerrymandering arms race. In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed retribution, proposing a measure that would trigger new maps that could help Democrats pick up five more seats in the state — but only if Texas moves forward with its redistricting plan. This story and headline have been updated with additional details.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Texas lawmaker who slept in House Chamber after rejecting DPS monitor files lawsuit
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas lawmaker who slept in the House Chamber of the Texas Capitol Monday night filed a lawsuit shortly into her protest, according to online records. That lawsuit claims Rep. Nicole Collier is being illegally confined. 'Representative Collier is under restraint by virtue of the Speaker of the House's order placing her into the custody of law enforcement prior to the Wednesday, August 20, 2025, Session,' the lawsuit says. Collier is refusing to leave the chamber because she would need to be monitored by a Department of Public Safety escort should she do so. Before the House adjourned Monday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, ordered the doors to the chamber to be locked. He said that members needed written permission to leave the chamber. But he added an extra step for Democrats who broke quorum and had arrest warrants issued. The speaker said those members would be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated Department of Public Safety officer who will ensure they return to the House on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Protest planned Tuesday evening in support of lawmaker who rejected DPS monitoring State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, refused and was therefore not allowed to leave. 'We have a lawyer working on getting a court to enter an injunction to allow all of us to be free from DPS escorts or DPS trails,' Collier told NBC's Ryan Chandler. 'And so hopefully that's successful, and we won't be here too long. But I am willing, and my heart has not changed. I still believe that this is wrong, and I have no intention to stop.' In a planned public display Tuesday afternoon, some House Democratic members tore up the permission slips required to leave the chamber, and announced they'll join Collier in sleeping inside the chamber Tuesday night, a news release said. 'She's a prisoner of nothing more than her own imagination,' Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) said of the lawsuit. 'This is like bad Kabuki theater, I'm talking like elementary, junior high-level grade dramatic actions that we're seeing here. That's all there is to say, this is pure theater.' 'We conclude that it does': Supreme Court ruling from 2021 Several years ago, members of the Texas House of Representatives fled the state to deny the House quorum to prevent voting legislation they disagreed with in a special session. 'They fled the state to escape the jurisdiction of the House, whose internal rules provide that absent members may be 'arrested' and their attendance 'secured and retained,'' a 2021 Supreme Court opinion explained. Nearly a month after leaving the state, those lawmakers sued 'seeking an injunction prohibiting their arrest.' The Supreme Court ultimately ruled against those members. 'The legal question before this Court concerns only whether the Texas Constitution gives the House of Representatives the authority to physically compel the attendance of absent members. We conclude that it does,' that ruling said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Even at the grocery store, Texas troopers don't let Democrats out of sight after walkout
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier refused to come to the Texas state Capitol for two weeks. Now she won't leave, and fellow Democrats are joining her protest. Collier was among dozens of Democrats who left the state for the Democratic havens of California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to delay the Republican-controlled Legislature's approval of redrawn congressional districts sought by President Donald Trump. When they returned Monday, Republicans insisted that Democrats have around-the-clock police escorts to ensure they wouldn't leave again and scuttle Wednesday's planned House vote on a new political map. But Collier wouldn't sign what Democrats called the 'permission slip' needed to leave the House chamber, a half-page form allowing Department of Public Safety troopers to follow them. She spent Monday night and Tuesday on the House floor, where she set up a livestream while her Democratic colleagues outside had plainclothes officers following them to their offices and homes. Dallas-area Rep. Linda Garcia said she drove three hours home from Austin with an officer following her. When she went grocery shopping, he went down every aisle with her, pretending to shop, she said. As she spoke to The Associated Press by phone, two unmarked cars with officers inside were parked outside her home. 'It's a weird feeling,' she said. 'The only way to explain the entire process is: It's like I'm in a movie.' The trooper assignments, ordered by Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows, was another escalation of a redistricting battle that has widened across the country. Trump is pushing GOP state officials to tilt the map for the 2026 midterms more in his favor to preserve the GOP's slim House majority, and Democrats nationally have rallied around efforts to retaliate. Other Democrats join the protest House Minority Leader Gene Wu, from Houston, and state Rep. Vincel Perez, of El Paso, stayed overnight with Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth. On Tuesday, more Democrats returned to the Capitol to tear up the slips they had signed and stay on the House floor, which has a lounge and restrooms for members. Dallas-area Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, called their protest a 'slumber party for democracy' and said Democrats were holding strategy sessions on the floor. 'We are not criminals,' Houston Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said. Collier said having officers shadow her was an attack on her dignity and an attempt to control her movements. Republican leader says Collier 'is well within her rights' Burrows brushed off Collier's protest, saying he was focused on important issues, such as providing property tax relief and responding to last month's deadly floods. His statement Tuesday morning did not mention redistricting and his office did not immediately respond to other Democrats joining Collier. 'Rep. Collier's choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules,' Burrows said. Under those rules, until Wednesday's scheduled vote, the chamber's doors are locked, and no member can leave 'without the written permission of the speaker.' To do business Wednesday, 100 of 150 House members must be present. The GOP wants 5 more seats in Texas The GOP plan is designed to send five additional Republicans from Texas to the U.S. House. Texas Democrats returned to Austin after Democrats in California launched an effort to redraw their state's districts to take five seats from Republicans. Democrats also said they were returning because they expect to challenge the new maps in court. Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust Wu and several other Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent. How officers shadowed Democratic lawmakers Democrats reported different levels of monitoring. Houston Rep. Armando Walle said he wasn't sure where his police escort was, but there was still a heightened police presence in the Capitol, so he felt he was being monitored closely. Some Democrats said the officers watching them were friendly. But Austin Rep. Sheryl Cole said in a social media post that when she went on her morning walk Tuesday, the officer following her lost her on the trail, got angry and threatened to arrest her. Garcia said her 9-year-old son was with her as she drove home, and each time she looked in the rearview mirror, she could see the officer close behind. He came inside a grocery store where she shopped with her son. 'I would imagine that this is the way it feels when you're potentially shoplifting and someone is assessing whether you're going to steal," she said. ___ Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas, and Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
