New Mexico state Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Albuquerque) recently proposed House Bill 82 to raise the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.
“It’s without a question what we should be affording every hard-working family,” Roybal Caballero said. “It’s unconscionable for me to have individuals ... have to work two and three jobs just to be able to afford the essentials.”
While Roybal Caballero says a living wage is a "moral imperative," small business owners fear that it will put them at a disadvantage and the state's GOP posted on its Facebook page that Roybal Caballero "wants to kill small business in New Mexico!"
The proposed bill would increase the minimum wage gradually each year, from $9 an hour in 2020, to $12 in 2022, to $15 by 2025. Roybal Caballero calls this living wage legislation and has attempted to pass similar legislation since she's been in office.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has already signed into law a mandate that will raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023.
About 31% of New Mexico's workforce currently makes around $12 an hour. More than 150,000 are paid less than $12 an hour.