ACTION ALERT: NM Rep. Lujan Introduces Minimum Wage Bill

Great news: Yesterday, House Speaker Ben Lujan introduced HB258, his version of the minimum wage bill. It would raise the NM minimum wage to $7.50 as of January 2007 and permit localities to enact a higher rate. Contrary to early reports, the bill would provide automatic annual increases based on the rate of inflation.

Click to read the bill. Its provisions echo those supported by the coalition group, New Mexicans for a Fair Wage. It differs significally from Governor Richardson's proposed bill (not yet introduced), which would raise the minimum in three phases to $7.50 on January 2009 and contains no automatic increases tied to the inflation rate. The Governor's proposal also stops localities, except for Santa Fe, from enacting a higher minimum wage for five years.

HB258 was referred to the House Labor & Human Resources Committee. Democrats on that committee include Chair Miguel Garcia (D-14 Bernalillo), Vice Chair Manuel Hererra (D-39 Grant & Hildalgo), Rep. Rick Miera (D-11 Bernalillo), Rep. Harriet Ruiz (D-16 Bernalillo) andRep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D-19 Bernalillo).

Take Action Now: You are urged to contact Rep. Lujan to thank him for introducing the bill, and to communicate with members of the House Labor & Human Resources Committee to encourage them to pass the bill as submitted. You can also contact your legislators to express your support for Rep. Lujan's bill over that of the Governor. You can find contact information for all legislators at the NM Legislature website.

Recent polling data indicates that Americans overwhelmingly support a raise in the minimum wage. In a recent Gallup poll, 83% supported Congress passing legislation that would raise the minimum wage. Of course, with BushCo dominating Congress, it's safe to say no raise in the minimum wage will be coming anytime soon at the national level. In the interim more and more states are stepping into the breach to raise the rate at the state level.

Ruy Teixeira on has this to say about public attitudes about the minimum wage:

Public opinion on many policy issues can be very complicated; there are nuances to the nuances, so to speak. Raising the minimum wage, however, is not one of those issues. Public support for raising the minimum wage has been, is, and likely will continue to be very, very high. People just think it’s the right thing to do and decades of attempts by conservatives to convince the public otherwise have been an abject failure.

... support for raising the minimum wage is remarkably high across partisan affiliations. In the November poll mentioned above, not only did 93 percent of Democrats favor a boost in the minimum wage, so did 80 percent of independents and even 73 percent of Republicans. The public’s view couldn’t be clearer.