Walt Rubel Commentary: Family Leave bill falls short again

Should business owners have a legal obligation to support employees who have just had a baby or are going through other life-changing situations?

It’s a question the New Mexico Legislature has not yet been able to answer yes to. Legislation requiring employers to provide paid family medical leave passed the House for the first time this year, but stalled in the Senate Finance Committee. By the time it arrived there, the bill had been so watered down in order to get through the House that even its supporters were no longer enthusiastic about its passage.

The version of the bill defeated in the Senate would have required mandatory contributions of 0.15 percent to 0.2 percent from both employees and employers. That would have meant single workers without children would be forced to subsidize their coworkers, as well as a new burden for employers who are already dealing with higher minimum wages and the impact of a much longer shutdown during the COVID-19 epidemic than businesses in surrounding states.

The bill would not only have benefitted new parents, but paid leave could have also been used for medical care, bereavement, military service or personal safety purposes. For small businesses, it would have meant increased costs and additional uncertainty as to the availability of their workforce.

The bill also would have also included a $9,000 payment to new parents, which would have been funded by the state. I suspect there was a lot more support for that part of the legislation. Because of the windfall from oil and gas revenue, the state budget has increased significantly each year for the past several years, setting a new record with each new session of the Legislature.  

The state may be in a position financially to absorb those new costs, at least for now. But, I’m not sure the same is true for its business owners. The National Federation of Independent Business claims that 89 percent of small business owners in New Mexico oppose the bill. 

“It will literally kill our business,” Rita Chaparro, owner of Rope’s Western and Casual Wear in Clayton, N.M., told the Albuquerque Journal. In fact, her store has only two employees and would not be impacted by the bill. But, her response to another government mandate was not illogical.

New Mexico is a tough place to do business. A CNBC study looking at 128 different metrics ranked New Mexico as the 43rd most business-friendly state in the nation. Texas is ranked third and Arizona is 12th. And so, it’s not surprising that the median family income in both of those neighboring states is more than $10,00 higher than it is here.

To be clear, I think our nation has its work-life balance off kilter. We value a nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic far more than we do loving, caring parents. And, that shows in where we invest our money.

The federal government spent $25.3 billion on childcare programs in fiscal year 2024, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. The defense budget for that fiscal year was 849.8 billion.

And so, I appreciate what the Legislature is trying to accomplish. But, it has yet to find a formula that won’t put New Mexico businesses at an even greater competitive disadvantage.


Walt Rubel can be reached at [email protected] 

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