A controversial pitch to raise New Mexico’s minimum wage to $17 an hour and do away with the much lower rate employers pay tipped workers has ignited fierce opposition from business advocates.

House Bill 246, which passed Thursday (Feb. 13) through the Labor, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, calls for a $5 bump to the state’s $12 per hour minimum wage starting in 2026. It would also require employers to pay tipped workers $17 an hour as well, up from $3 per hour.

(2) comments

Wyatt Presley

If you can’t pay a living wage then you are a failure as a business owner. The government should not be paying for your employees food and housing because you pay your employees less than is needed for survival.

MATS WICHMANN

It's possible to agree and disagree at the same time: Many food service establishments have already pushed their prices up to a level where they're pretty much not an option for folks on a fixed income, which goes up much more slowly. This level of minimum wage hike (justified though it may be) is likely to result either in places giving up, or having to produce another huge price bump with the result that no locals can eat there anymore, which given the seasonality of tourist business, may just force closure for that reason, too.

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