ABQ councilors propose raising minimum wage to $15 an hour - Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
A proposed ordinance up for final action at Monday's Albuquerque City Council meeting would raise the minimum wage by $3 in 2027 and set in place an annual cost of living adjustment — tied to both housing costs and inflation — to begin in 2028.
The measure, sponsored by Councilors Tammy Fiebelkorn, Joaquin Baca, Nichole Rogers and Stephanie Telles, would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and $14 for employees who receive at least $2,500 in healthcare and/or childcare benefits.
The ordinance would raise the pay of tipped employees to $9 an hour.
Minimum wages across the state
Santa Fe: $17.50 — takes effect 2027
Las Cruces: $13.01 — took effect 2026
Statewide: $12 — took effect 2023
The bill, like one recently passed in Santa Fe, would implement annual cost of living adjustments tied to the Consumer Price Index and Fair Market Rent — measured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — for a two-bedroom home in Albuquerque.
If passed, both the wage increase and the cost of living adjustments would follow Santa Fe's timeline on its $17 minimum wage, with the former starting in January and the latter in January 2028.
A local economist said the increases were not excessive, but the annual adjustments could create uncertainty for businesses. In a letter to the council, one local business leader said the panel was "fast-tracking" the decision and expressed concerns with the adjustments being tied to housing.
Most of the council's sponsors could not be reached Saturday.
Fiebelkorn, who crafted the ordinance over several months with Mayor Tim Keller's administration, called it a "middle ground" as she wanted to raise wages even higher, up to $20 an hour or more. She said, with the compromise, "we're not too dramatically impacting businesses, but we're also getting people the relief they need, and we're getting relief for taxpayers too.”
Fiebelkorn said the income for minimum wage workers in Albuquerque is 20% less than the national average, while rents in the city are 25% more than the national average.
“Really, let that sink in. … Two people working full-time jobs at minimum wage can't afford a two-bedroom apartment in our community, and that just doesn't make any sense,” she said.
Fiebelkorn said the sponsors tied the annual adjustments to both inflation and housing “to have a realistic representation of what it costs to live in our community, and how those costs rise every year.”
The ordinance states that the Fair Market Rate for a two-bedroom unit in Albuquerque increased 56% between 2021 and 2026, but the minimum wage has increased 26% in that same timeframe. Meanwhile, the 2024 Albuquerque Region Housing Needs Assessment found that 52% of all renters in Albuquerque are cost burdened — paying more than 30% of their income on housing.
Fiebelkorn said "people need help now" and she hoped the measure would pass Monday night,"so that folks know that come January 1, they have some relief coming."
Councilor Renée Grout said the proposed ordinance "won’t raise anyone’s standard of living, but it will kill the small businesses that offer entry-level jobs."
"The real path to financial stability is upward mobility, and small local businesses offer those opportunities," she said in a statement. "If Albuquerque adopts a $15 per hour minimum wage, it will still take almost $20 per hour for a single person to afford a market rate studio apartment. Upward mobility gets people there; raising the minimum wage doesn’t even come close."
Councilor Dan Lewis, in a statement, called the increase "another misguided policy that ignores economic reality and threatens the small businesses that power Albuquerque’s economy." He said strong opposition to the proposal from the Hispano Chamber, Albuquerque Chamber and New Mexico Restaurant Association "says it all."
"Thousands of local employers and workers are warning that this proposal will hurt Albuquerque’s economy. We should listen to the people creating jobs, not politicians pushing policies that risk destroying them," Lewis said.
Council President Klarissa Peña said she would "leave comments to the sponsors."
Within reason, and uncertainty
Kelly O'Donnell, an economic consultant, said the proposed wage increases are reasonable and inline with the higher costs of goods and services.
"It’s a meaningful increase that will make a very meaningful difference in the budgets of low-wage workers … but it's not so high that it will have a really negative impact on employment," she said.
O'Donnell said recent large-scale studies, including one in the past few years, have found that “modest to moderate” wage increases don't kill jobs the way the business world sometimes suggests. She said, while wage increases can lead to slightly slower job growth in certain sectors, they often have "an immediate positive stimulus" on the local economy that benefits businesses and workers.
“I think it will reduce turnover and will encourage folks to enter the workforce, so those are two big positives for business," she said. "The other thing is, it puts money in the pockets of workers who go out and spend their money at those businesses — so that money will flow back to many of these businesses.”
O'Donnell said tying an annual cost of living increase to Fair Market Rent is more unique and she could see how businesses would have mixed feelings about that aspect. She said the FMR's "tend to be a little bit more volatile" than inflation, despite the former having gone up much faster than the latter in recent years.
In any case, while inflation is more steady and predictable in its movements, O'Donnell said housing costs take "bigger swings" in some years and don't change much at all in others. She said such a dynamic could lead to uncertainty for businesses, which often pay more attention to inflation.
“I understand the motivation, and it makes sense to me. On the other hand, I also understand why the business community might be a little uncomfortable with it,” O'Donnell said. “If you inject this higher, more volatile measure into how you're calculating growth for your minimum wage, you inject a little bit more uncertainty, and I think that, if anything, one of the important roles of government is to help provide a level of certainty and continuity for the economy.”
In a letter to the City Council, Ernie C'deBaca, president and CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, asked members of the body to take their time. He said the chamber "supports fair wages and a thriving workforce," but the group also has to consider the challenges faced by small businesses.
C'deBaca said "fast-tracking a 25% increase" to the minimum wage was a concern and the proposed ordinance needed input from small businesses as they cannot absorb such increases like larger ones.
"These businesses are not large corporations with deep reserves," he said. "They are the most vulnerable when costs rise faster than revenue."
C'deBaca said tying annual adjustments to the Consumer Price Index and Fair Market Rate was also a concern. Should recent trends continue, he said, minimum wage would reach $26 an hour by 2037, adding that "policies that increase costs too quickly put their progress at risk."
"A 25% wage increase may sound simple on paper, but for many small and Hispanic-owned businesses, it could mean reduced hours, fewer jobs, higher prices, and in the worst cases, closure," he said. "… Let’s make the right decision, not just a quick decision."
Republican Party of New Mexico appeals to state Supreme Court to overturn chairwoman’s ouster - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The Republican Party of New Mexico has filed an appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court, arguing that a lower court judge’s ruling that required Chairwoman Amy Barela to vacate her seat was unprecedented and “extraordinary.”
Thirteenth Judicial District Court Judge Cindy Mercer on Wednesday issued a ruling that prohibited Barela from continuing to serve as party chairwoman, citing party rules that prohibit chairpersons from holding the post while also running in a contested primary. One of the plaintiffs is Jonathan Emery, who is running in the Republican primary against Barela for the Otero County Commission.
The ruling also prohibited party officials from endorsing Republican candidates during the primary election, which concludes Tuesday.
In an emergency petition filed Thursday, attorney Carter Harrison argued that Mercer’s ruling violated party members’ free speech rights and that courts are not the proper venue to resolve intra-party disputes. If Mercer’s ruling is allowed to go into effect, a “flood of cases” will arrive in local courts when “minority factions of political parties learn that they can take their grievances … to court,” he wrote.
A RPNM spokesperson did not immediately respond to Source NM’s emailed request for comment Friday.
In an emailed statement to reporters Friday afternoon, Aubrey Blair Dunn, who is running for lieutenant governor as a Republican and was one of the plaintiffs, said the party’s decision to appeal is misguided.
“The judge’s decision was clear, well-reasoned, and plainly correct, and dragging it into an appeal does nothing but waste the Party’s limited resources and the Court’s valuable time,” he said.
Gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez, another plaintiff, said an appeal will only distract from the Republican Party’s efforts to win elections and expand its coalition.
“Every day spent fighting each other is a day not spent fighting for New Mexico,” he said.
Santa Fe City Council approves budget with 8% spending increase - Santa Fe New Mexican
The Santa Fe city council last week passed its budget for the next fiscal year.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the next budget reflects an overall 8.1 percent increase in spending. A significant portion of the increases will go to public safety and affordable housing.
Councilors unanimously passed Mayor Michael Garcia’s $521.1 million budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Details include a 2.5% across-the-board pay increase for city employees — which will be subject to negotiation with the city’s three different employee unions.
The city will also fund a new seven-person parks crew, as well as a $3 million allocation for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Also, the police and fire departments will each see their budgets increase by more than $5 million.
NM lawmakers receive push to update AI education policies - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
A New Mexico legislative analyst this week recommended state lawmakers adopt policies to better define the use of artificial intelligence in schools, as research develops on its potential benefits and harms.
Saraí Ortiz, an analyst for the state’s Legislative Education Study Committee, told lawmakers at Wednesday’s interim committee presentation in Raton that New Mexico’s approach to public education and AI remains undefined.
At present, the state’s sole guidance for AI use in classrooms is a non-binding 2025 guidance document from the New Mexico Public Education Department, Ortiz said. The document states that “AI can enrich the learning experience, but it is human oversight, inquiry and reflection that ultimately drive meaningful education,” and gives suggestions for AI use in classrooms at different grade levels.
Ortiz recommended New Mexico lawmakers consider comprehensive policy to address a variety of issues, including data privacy, curriculum and tribal sovereignty.
Those policies would help guide the use of platforms currently employed in New Mexico schools, such as ChatGPT for generating lesson plans, chatbots for tutoring and products to help screen students for learning disabilities.
Ortiz said state legislatures are increasingly grappling with various elements of AI in education, such as its impacts on children’s problem-solving abilities, plagiarism, privacy and data. State lawmakers considered 134 pieces of AI-related education legislation across 31 states in 2026 alone, she said.
However, more questions than answers remain about AI’s impact on kids, she said.
“The promise of AI in education is personalized learning, improved outcomes and classroom efficiency, but we also know that research is currently mixed and still emerging,” Ortiz said, and cited a January 2026 Brookings Institute study that stated current AI benefits “pale in comparison” to its risks in the classroom.
Sen. William “Bill” Soules (D-Las Cruces), who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said he uses AI already as a “thought partner” and a writing tool, and generally expressed optimism at its use in classrooms.
“I think we’re right on the front end of how to use AI to teach students, how to use it to be more efficient and to do things they couldn’t do before, but not to use it as a substitute for thinking, but more as a thought partner to think with you on how to answer questions,” he said.
Rep. Debra Sariñana (D-Albuquerque), a longtime math teacher, said she knows many teachers with a “love-hate relationship” with AI tools. She said AI’s potential misuse along with its impact on students’ problem-solving abilities needs to be considered when expanding its use.
“There are times I want it coming from their brains, no computers anywhere around,” she said.
New Mexico American Federated Teachers President Whitney Holland told Source NM that the issue of using AI in education remains “complicated.”
She said none of the 30 school districts the union represents, including the state’s largest, included language around AI use in classrooms in contract negotiations, but said she expects that to change “if not in this round of bargaining, by this time next year.”
Holland expressed concern about the long-term impacts of using the AI tools in the classroom, and the prospect of adopting them too quickly.
“At the end of the day, our goal at the union is to safeguard what our children have access to, but also the work that our educators do,” Holland said. “No matter how AI evolves over time, it will never fully replace or replicate a good, high-quality teacher.”
Taos Pueblo’s 2026 Powwow cancelled - Taos News
The 2026 Taos Pueblo Powwow has been cancelled.
The Taos News reports that the Taos Pueblo Tourism Department announced the cancellation on Wednesday last week.
The event had been scheduled for July 10-12.
The annual powwow draws hundreds of traditional dancers, drummers, visitors and vendors to the Pueblo’s Powwow Grounds on Buffalo Pasture Road.
The reason for the cancellation was not given.
The Taos News reports that it has contacted the Taos Pueblo Tourism Department, Taos Pueblo Gov. Michael Martinez and Tribal Secretary Cameron Martinez Sr. for more information.
On Wednesday evening, Taos Pueblo Chief Operations Officer Vernon Lujan confirmed that the tourism department's director, Ilona Spruce, resigned from her position just before Memorial Day.