Supporters of Paid Family and Medical Leave say it will return

By Susan Dunlap, NM Political Report
Feb. 21

House Speaker Javier Martinez said that the Paid Family and Medical Leave will return to next year’s legislative session.

SB 3, sponsored by state Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, appeared to have the momentum to pass this year but like last year, it failed in the House process. Last year, the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee tabled the effort after it passed the Senate floor. This year, the bill bypassed that committee and made the House floor, but the chamber narrowly tabled it, as well, by a vote of 34 to 36.

Martinez said that Chandler “did an amazing job” of working with both advocates and representatives of industry who opposed the bill and that by the time the bill reached the House floor it was a “good compromise.”

One of the bill sponsors, state Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, called it a “uniquely New Mexico” bill because of the compromises made on the bill. 

Read more at NM Political Report