FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2025
Contact: Katie Hoeppner at katie@neonvine.us
SANTA FE, NM – Today, the New Mexico Paid Family and Medical Leave Coalition urged House Health and Human Services Committee members to vote against HB 446. Unlike HB 11, which passed the House floor last Friday, HB 446 excludes paid leave for people recovering from or taking care of family members with serious medical conditions, people recovering from domestic or sexual assault, and people dealing with military exigencies.
“The harsh reality of the bill is that it ignores those already enduring the terrible real world consequences of cancer especially as we potentially face financial destitution,” said Lan Sena, MHA, policy director at the Center for Civic Policy and stage four Hodgkin lymphoma patient. “With this bill, it affirms the notion that those in support of it only value birthing bodies and not the sick, the dying, and the bereaved. HB 446 is deeply harmful when many cancer patients have had their ability to be parents stripped from them due to their cancer like myself.”
Coalition members said the bill ignores the needs of thousands of New Mexicans who are struggling daily to take care of themselves and their families while keeping an income in their most challenging times.
“HB 446 not only leaves out New Mexicans who need time to address critical health issues and care for sick family members—it also doesn’t give new parents enough time,” said Tracy McDaniel, policy director at the Southwest Women’s Law Center. “Our communities deserve a more robust and inclusive bill that works for all families. We urge committee members to vote against it.”
HB 446 also only provides six weeks of parental leave. There is an option for employees to pay into a fund to receive a total of nine weeks, which is three weeks less than the twelve weeks of leave included in HB 11. Employers would not be required to contribute any funds—a funding structure the coalition criticized as unfair to workers, who help drive businesses success but who would have to shoulder the entire burden of supplemental leave.
“HB 446 unfairly excludes queer and trans New Mexicans who need paid leave to recover from gender-affirming care procedures and from incidents of sexual assault,” said Marshall Martinez, executive director of Equality New Mexico. “It also sends a message that people who aren’t parents are less deserving of dignity, financial security, and health.”
For more information on the New Mexico Paid Family and Medical Leave coalition and our work advocating for fair and inclusive paid leave, visit www.nmpfml.org