Senate panel OKs bill raising wages of chile workers

$2.2M in federal aid would boost program

The state Senate Conservation Committee passed a bill Tuesday that would restart the chile labor incentive program and help ensure there are enough seasonal laborers to harvest New Mexico’s iconic crop.

Senate Bill 157, sponsored by Las Cruces Democrat Sen. Jeff Steinborn and Elephant Butte Republican Sen. Crystal Diamond, would direct $2.2 million of federal pandemic relief funds to extend the wage boost program.

Steinborn said the funds would address labor shortages in the chile industry.

“They’re challenged right now for workers, just like a lot of other labor areas,” he said. “It’s completely possible — and has happened — that some of these crops would not get harvested at all (without the funding).”

The New Mexico Department of Agriculture distributed $2.8 million last year from the American Rescue Plan Act to chile farmers under a plan from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Funds supported wage increases for more than 3,000 chile workers, according to the NMDA.

The program was suspended in early December after the state Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers have the authority to allocate ARPA funds.

Charlie Marquez, a New Mexico Chile Association lobbyist, said farmers had originally expected the program to have an early spring deadline.

“Each of these farmers actually paid the expense with an understanding that they were going to be reimbursed, so they were left holding the bag,” Marquez said.

The program enabled many farmers to boost wages to $19.50 an hour, up from $15 an hour.

The bill would require employers to demonstrate how the money was distributed to employees — an important provision, according to Felipe Guevara, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.

“Because agriculture workers tend to earn very low wages, this program could have a significant and positive effect on many workers employed by the chile industry, but only if the increased wages are actually passed on to the workers,” Guevara said.

Eight senators voted to pass the bill, with Sen. Joseph Cervantes recusing himself from the vote. No one spoke in opposition.

The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.