Senate Bill 3 received its second due pass from a Senate committee and is one step closer to ensuring that New Mexicans have Access to family and medical leave.
The Paid Family and Medical Leave Act made it through the Senate Finance Committee with a vote of 6-5.
Senator Mimi Stewart explained the background of SB 3 to the committee
“I want to remind us of how we got here, we’ve been working on this for 4 years and in 2022 we set up a task force. The bulk of that work is in the bill and the decisions the task force made still remains in the bill. “
Senator Stewart Explained the tax percentages that would have to be paid by the employee and the employer.
“The fund is funded through employee and employer contributions. The employee contribution is 0.5%, $5 on every $1000 of wages. The employer contribution is 0.4%, $4 on every $1000. “
Senator Stewart says that 65 percent of New Mexican Business will not have to contribute to this, nor will any employer have to pay an employee on leave through this legislation.
“We exempt 66% of our businesses that have fewer than 5 employees, they don't pay into the fund although their employees do so that they can benefit from that fund. Let me say upfront, that the way this works is that employers do not pay when their employee is on leave, they are paid by the fund.
Senate Bill 3 is very similar to House Bill 6 which has also been making it through Committees.
