Reformed version of Paid Family and Medical Leave Act moves forward

Yahoo

20-02-2025

Feb. 19—SANTA FE — A significantly reworked Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, with lower premiums and less paid time off for medical purposes, is on its way to the House floor after passing a committee on Wednesday where it died two years ago. If it passes the floor, House Bill 11 will likely wind up on the governor's desk.
After a four-hour debate, the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee voted 6-5 to move the legislation along. Rep. Marian Matthews, D-Albuquerque, joined committee Republicans in voting against the bill.
Under the revised bill, businesses and employees would no longer be taxed to pay for parental leave; rather, the state's Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD) would front the cost. Employers with five or more workers and employees would still pay into a wellness fund for medical or sexual harassment safety leave, with employers paying a 0.15% premium — $1.50 for every $1,000 earned — and employees paying a 0.2% premium — $2 for every $1,000 earned.
The committee substitute bill also reduces the amount of paid leave for bereavement, foster, medical, exigency or safety purposes to six weeks rather than nine weeks. Parents could still get up to 12 weeks of paid time off with a $3,000 monthly benefit per child from the separate ECECD fund.
The state would start assessing premiums on employees and employers in 2027, and workers could start taking paid leave in 2028.
"There's an old saying that you know it's a compromise when everyone's a little bit unhappy," said bill sponsor Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, speaking to the two main changes in the bill decreasing the amount of medical time off and lowering premium rates by 0.55%.
Thirteen other states and Washington, D.C., offer paid family and medical leave, but House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, noted in a news conference before the committee meeting that this approach would be unique to New Mexico.
"It's a win-win," Martínez said. "It's a win for the families, it's a win for the workers, it's a win for the babies and it's a win for the small business community."
The changes to HB11 didn't sway Republicans or business leaders who have stood in steady opposition to the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, many of whom voiced concerns about having to fill workforce gaps.
Minority Floor Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, still labeled the bill as burdensome and called it the "largest health tax increase" in New Mexico's history.
"The more taxes that we implement and the more mandates that we put on employers and employees take away the ability for employers to help make those decisions as a group, with the people that they care about that are doing a fantastic job," she said.
Democrats have been working on the bill's changes for the past couple of weeks, signaling a reason the legislation hasn't moved at all since passing its first committee in January. It now has about a month to pass the House floor, then the Senate.
The bill has made it through the Senate side twice in past years, always dying on the House side. The legislation failed to pass the House chamber by two votes last year, and three Democrats who voted against the bill all lost their seats in the 2024 election cycle.
Matthews pointed out in her closing remarks that she won her election despite voting against the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act last year, when she also proposed her own narrower version of the bill that died.
The committee tabled an amendment she introduced largely aimed at exempting caregiving employers from having to pay the premium, an industry for which Matthews has said she's particularly concerned.
"I will remain a 'no' vote on this until and unless we start to treat these people (well)," she said after the vote.
Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, earlier this week told the Journal the proposal, if it makes it to the Senate, could pass with unanimous Democratic support in the chamber.
But she also said she decided not to file a Senate bill on the subject this year, after passing the bill through the chamber the last two years.
"I got tired of being the straw man," Stewart said.
It's now up to Martínez when to schedule the bill to be heard on the House floor.