House Bill 49, the proposal to remove taxes on Social Security benefits was off to a good start this session. However, the bipartisan bill stalled in the House Taxation and Revenue Committee after being tabled in a 4-4 vote. This is the second year in a row this common sense bill has stalled out and is shaping up to keep NM on the short list of only 13 states who tax Social Security.
Senate Bill 171, which would allow local school boards the authority to decide when students could return to the classroom amid a state-issued public health emergency also was tabled on Monday. While the bill is not completely dead, it has a long shot at coming back to committee. “Let’s just leave it there for a while and see if [committee members] go back and read some of the information that’s been sent,” one of the primary sponsors, Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, said. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll revive itself.”
House Bill 38, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act continued its way through the session as well on Monday. The bill would create a state-administered fund to begin providing up to 12 weeks of paid family medical leave starting in 2024. There are a litany of reasons why this bill is bad for businesses in NM despite its good intentions, but namely the expansion of government and mandates on business are just a few reasons why NMBC is fighting this bill. State Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert, joined NMBC in bringing attention to the struggle this would create for already hard hit businesses. “We’re passing this along and it puts (small business owners) in a precarious position. We have legislation to give small businesses more money to get back in business but take it out on the other end. I have real issues with the way this is crafted and the timing,” Powdrell-Culbert said. Click HERE to read more.