The recent failure of House Bill 11 in the Senate Finance Committee is a setback for New Mexico working families. Paid family and medical leave is a win-win for businesses and workers by valuing the health and well-being of our families, reducing turnover, and boosting productivity. But for another year, families will continue to face the painful choice between a paycheck and taking time off to care for themselves or loved ones. In past sessions, Paid Family and Medical Leave passed the Senate but failed in the House. This year, sponsors started the bill in the House, which passed it, but at a cost.
We are grateful to the House sponsors for their leadership in moving the bill forward. However, the version that emerged no longer reflected the community-informed policy or model proven to be effective in other states, which advocates and previous sponsors had worked on for years. In the House committee, the bill was amended and renamed the Welcome Child and Family Wellness Act. In an effort to lower costs for employees and employers, the new bill offered only six weeks off medical, safe and military leave. We’ve done the research, and this is not enough time for people to recover from major illnesses and surgeries.
Other changes included swapping out parental leave for a “Welcome Child” benefit that would have provided $9,000 payments per baby for up to two parents to split over three months, rather than offering each working parent a percentage of their wage. This amount, less than minimum wage for two-income households, might have pushed low-wage workers to keep working instead of bonding with a new child.
The new Welcome Child Fund would have used public dollars, which belong to all New Mexicans, but it would have excluded the children who need help the most by requiring that at least one parent be employed for at least six of the prior 12 months. This disproportionately excludes the children of young or single parents, as well as parents who lack access to steady employment, who are over-represented in rural communities and communities of color. We know the evidence-based transformative power of direct cash transfers to parents of infants, but we believe such a policy should serve as a supplement to, not a replacement for, paid parental leave.
Additionally, the Welcome Child Fund was estimated to cost $193.5 million. The original plan would have created a self-sustaining funding system, where employees and employers pay modest contributions to a fund to ensure a living wage for people on leave. A strong business sector with a well-supported workforce benefits all New Mexicans. A paid leave fund supported by both employer and employee contributions would keep businesses competitive and ensure program sustainability.
We are open to compromise, and won’t give up until the paid family and medical leave program we deserve is a reality. But it must be a policy that truly benefits the 734,000 New Mexico workers who lack paid leave. Just like other states and countries have successfully implemented this program, it is achievable here too. The fight continues, and New Mexico families are worth it.
For the next year, as we have for the past six years, we will continue to talk to communities, stakeholders, partners, businesses, parents and lawmakers to build support and find a solution we can all get behind. New Mexico families and businesses should not have to wait any longer, but it will take all of us, working together.
Gabrielle Uballez is executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children and Terrelene Massey is executive director of Southwest Women’s Law Center. Also contributing to the piece are Oriana Sandoval, CEO of Center for Civic Policy and Stephanie Welch, director of workers’ rights for New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.
Published March 24, 2025
Santa Fe New Mexican