Guv Says He'll Veto Mangled Minimum Wage Bill

Follow the money. A heavily amended minimum wage bill passed by a 5-4 party-line vote in the Senate Corporations Committee yesterday. The bill was so mangled by special interests that Governor Richardson has threatened to veto if it reaches him. Read all about it in the Santa Fe New Mexican. The bill heads next to the Senate floor, perhaps sometime today.

SB 449, orginally sponsored by Sen. Ben Altamirano on behalf of the Governor, now provides a raise to only $6 an hour for first-year employees in 2007, sets a wage of $6.75 an hour in 2008 for those with at least a year of experience, and raises that to $7.50 in 2009 for employees with at least two year's experience. There is no indexing for inflation. It also exempts the food processing and dairy industries, permanently prohibits cities and towns in NM from passing their own minimum wage laws and caps Santa Fe's current minimum wage at $9.50 an hour. Altamirano calls the amended bill "a joke."

Altamirano and others will be negotiating in the Senate to get a better bill. The House already passed a committee substitute for Rep. Lujan's HB 258, which is better by far than Altamirano's original bill. If a wage bill passes in the Senate, it will have to be reconciled with the House version. Not much time is left. Supporters are urged to contact Senators to urge a return to the original provisions in SB 449. It's especially important to contact Tim Jennings (D-Roswell) 986-4863, John Arthur Smith (D-Deming) 986-4363 and Leonard Tsosie (D-Crownpoint) 986-4859.

Clearly, monied interests rule in the Corporations Committee as they do in most political arenas these days, even on the Democratic side. Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee include Chair Joe Fidel (D-Grants), Vice Chair John Arthur Smith (D-Deming), Pete Campos (D-Las Vegas), Tim Jennings (D-Roswell), Nancy Rodriguez (D-Santa Fe) and Leonard Tsosie (D-Crownpoint). Jennings, in particular, was instrumental in watering down the bill with an awful amendment that inserted the "training wage" provisions.

Apparently the bucks they receive from special interests like pecan and chile producers, agricultural processors, dairy interests and others who insist on paying substandard wages mean more to them than getting a few more bucks into the pockets of the working poor in their districts. After all, we're talking a minor raise in the pay floor here, not an increase to anything resembling a genuine living wage. I'd love to see any Senator or lobbyist live on $6.75 an hour.

It's important to remember that New Mexico's campaign finance reporting system is rated F, as one of the worst in the nation. Is it any wonder that some Democrats, who apparently like the pay for play system just the way it is, made sure to kill campaign reform legislation this session? We don't want our citizens following the money, do we?