Dear Editor,
To close out the week, two important bills have made critical advances on their legislative path.
House Bill 127 now heads to Gov. Lujan Grisham for her signature and Senate Bill 521 heads to the N.M. House of Representatives for consideration.
MARCH 9
State Senate
Senate Bill 521, carried by Sens. Muñoz and Stewart, would add an additional 1% to the proposed salary increases to the FY ’24 budget. This would represent a 6% average increase in salary for the FY ’24 fiscal year. SB 521 explicitly states this additional 1% is an attempt to acknowledge both inflation and anticipated increased to healthcare costs.Senate Bill 521, carried by Sens. Muñoz and Stewart, would add an additional 1% to the proposed salary increases to the FY ’24 budget. This would represent a 6% average increase in salary for the FY ’24 fiscal year. SB 521 explicitly states this additional 1% is an attempt to acknowledge both inflation and anticipated increased to healthcare costs.
AFT New Mexico supports this legislation and will continue to lobby for wage increases for the educators we represent in this and future sessions. SB 521 is a hard-won acknowledgement for our public employees and is a win for educators this late in the session. SB 521 passed the full State Senate with bi-partisan support by vote of 26-10.
House Bill 127 is an effort to raise the minimum wage for educational assistants/instructional assistants and their role group to $25,000/year. It is sponsored by Reps. Susan Herrera, Brian Baca, Willie Madrid, Debbie Sariñana, Christine Trujillo, Patricia Roybal Caballero, Luis Terrazas, Liz Thomson, and Sens. Mimi Stewart and Linda Lopez.
As we reported last week, our union was able to secure funding in House Bill 2 (the FY ’24 budget) to fund these minimums, and the entire House of Representatives adopted those budgetary recommendations before sending House Bill 2 to the Senate.
Even though the funds for HB 127 are in the current version of the budget, advancing HB 127 is necessary so these newly won minimums are permanently in statute. House Bill 127 passed the New Mexico State Senate with unanimous support March 9. The measure now goes to the governor for her signature.
AFT NM-supported Legislation on Final Third Reading:
(These are bills which are on a final action before being sent to the governor.)
- House Bill 181 – National Board Certification Units
- House Bill 126/a – HS Graduation Redesign
AFT NM-aupported Legislation on the governor's desk:
(These are bills that will become law with the governor's signature).
House Bill 127 – Educational Assistant Minimum Salary
Sincerely,
Whitney Holland
President, NM American Federation of Teachers
