Opinion
Let Us Let Go of Restaurant

Folks Around Here Ready To Help Out

Co-op CEO Challenges Editorial

Letters To the Editor

Letters To the Editor

Editorial: Electric Co-Op Kidding Itself

Guest View: Loving Nation Means Those in It

Fire Response Shows Spirit

Discuss Drinking Before the Prom

Letters To the Editor

More
Opinion

HOME	CLASSIFIEDS	OBITUARIES	SPORTS	OPINION

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Editorial: Lawmakers: Punch In, Fix State Wage Law

By

    On Jan. 1, the state's new minimum wage law kicks in. So does an overtime glitch for some public-safety personnel that could send local governments bust.
    On Jan. 15, the Legislature convenes to craft a state budget. The interim Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee has already endorsed a quick wage-law fix— including the standard federal provision that exempts firefighters and others from being paid OT if they work more than 40 hours in a week.
    That standard provision is in force across New Mexico now. Not keeping it could cost 100-plus local governments an estimated $20 million to $30 million a year in additional overtime, according to William Fulginiti, executive director of the New Mexico Municipal League.
    And not keeping it had to be an oversight. The state law was intended to raise the wage floor to $6.50 an hour starting Jan. 1 and boost it to $7.50 in 2009, not give the unions for firefighters, police and corrections officers and emergency medical personnel a way around their members' shift/pay structure.
    Anna Lamberson, Albuquerque's chief financial officer, says "it's an error in state law we hope will be corrected as soon as possible." The Albuquerque Fire Department has estimated $1 million a month more in costs if it's not. That's $1 million for one month in one department in one city. If you think there's a problem paying public safety personnel now. ...
    Unfortunately, House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, and Sen. Diane Snyder, R-Albuquerque, question their committee's fix. Lujan wants to talk to the unions and the workers. Snyder wants to know "how it affects regular, everyday guys."
    Here's how— it allows them to game the system while putting more than a hundred local governments in financial jeopardy. It allows a few employees to bank more than they should while others face layoffs. And it allows lawmakers to pander to organized labor by using a legal oversight for political profit.
    While the federal minimum wage will soon be a thing of the past in New Mexico, its standard provision on OT exemptions should not. Lawmakers should fix this law right after punching in.