Gov. to receive two minimum wage bills

SANTA FE — Gov. Susana Martinez will have at least two minimum wage bills to choose from after the Legislature heads home.

And, of course, she could turn them both down.

One proposal, House Bill 442, would push the minimum wage up about 23 percent, from $7.50 to $9.25 an hour. It would also prohibit cities and counties in New Mexico from enacting laws that regulate the scheduling of private workers.

That bill passed the Senate 24-15 on Friday afternoon.

The other measure, Senate Bill 386, would raise the wage 20 percent, to $9 an hour. It would also allow employers to pay workers an $8 training wage for up to 60 days.

It passed the House 41-27 late Thursday.

Now that each measure has cleared the House and the Senate, Martinez can pick one or reject them both.

The Republican governor has suggested she’s open to a wage increase of some kind, though she hasn’t said whether either of the Legislatureapproved bills would be acceptable.

Martinez “supports raising the minimum wage so long that it’s in line with neighboring states and doesn’t hurt small businesses,” spokesman Michael Lonergan said earlier this month.

Arizona and Colorado have minimum wages over $9 an hour, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But the minimum wages of Texas, Oklahoma and Utah are all set at the federal minimum — $7.25 an hour.