Rep. Lujan's Version of Minimum Wage Bill Passes House Labor Committee

House Bill 759, Rep. Ben Lujan's version of the minimum wage bill, passed the NM House Labor Committee yesterday on a 4-2 vote along Party lines. This is the bill being backed by progressives and labor and poverty activists. The Committee also passed Sen. Ben Altamirano's wage bill, Senate Bill 324, which was previously passed by the full Senate, after amending it to match Rep. Lujan's. Gov. Bill Richardson prefers the Senate version. I was going to discuss the bills here but discovered that Las Cruces blogger Heath Haussamen has a terrific rundown on what happened and why. Click to check it out.

The bills go next to the House Business and Industry Committee. Click for contact info on the members and encourage them to support HB 759.