The New Mexico House of Representatives passed the Welcome Child and Family Wellness Leave Act on February 28, after many years of failed attempts to create a paid leave program here. House Speaker Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) spoke with reporter Gwyneth Doland on New Mexico In Focus about how the bill evolved and also how state officials are preparing for federal funding cuts.
NMPBS: Obviously, New Mexico does depend on federal money. We have a lot of federal employees, a lot of government programs. Have you done enough here to prepare for the pace and the breadth of his cuts?
JAVIER MARTINEZ: Look, we have been preparing for years. We have put a lot of money away in trust funds to ensure that New Mexicans have access to critical services like health care, education, child care, etc. Now, having said that, you know, President Trump completely ignored the elephant in the room, and that's inflation. That's the high cost of living for Americans all across the country, including New Mexicans. The New Mexico legislature will continue to work to make life more affordable for our families, to ensure that they can keep more of their hard-earned money so that we can be better prepared if Trump continues down this destructive path.
NMPBS: So in terms of affordability and inflation, paid family medical leave, after years of debate, the House passed a bill that has a different structure than we're looking at, but the Republicans have criticized it, saying it's a small business killer. I mean, this is going to cost businesses money. What is your argument for why this is the time to do this now, based on the affordability argument you just made?
MARTINEZ: Look, we came up with an elegant New Mexico solution to a New Mexico problem. We pulled out parental leave, out of paid family medical leave, which was the largest uptake in the prior iterations of the bill, and that is now completely paid for through the Early Childhood Education and Care Department budget. So that's a tax that businesses will not have and that employees will not have. The only remaining part is the medical leave piece, which is six weeks, and that is a very small fraction of a contribution made by both employers and employees. On average, a company that hires workers at minimum wage will pay roughly $30 per year per employee. That is almost nothing. That's less than the cost of a cup of coffee. Having said that, New Mexico small businesses, businesses with under five employees, are completely exempt. So the Republican criticism is really baseless. It doesn't hold water. And I'm proud of this House for passing what, again I call an elegant new Mexican solution to a New Mexico problem.
NMPBS: Five Democrats voted against it. Are you expecting that it will receive some pushback from more Democrats in the Senate?
MARTINEZ: I don't think so. I mean, this is really, you know, a unicorn, if you will, as close to a perfect bill as you can get, right? We've got an early childhood care department with a budget well over $700 million a year, and that budget will only increase because of the funding mechanisms that fund that department. Now when we're talking about what's best for a newborn, what's best for a newborn is to be with their mom and/or their dad and/or their parent for those first 12 weeks of life. Science tells us that that is the best in terms of the development of that child. We've ensured through this bill that parents can do that if they so choose to.
NMPBS: And the way it looks now, it's direct payments. You're just going to cut checks of $3,000 a month for a few months. Why is direct cash assistance the best way to support new families?
MARTINEZ: Because we've got to trust families, right, with their own money. You heard my Republican colleagues on the floor during the budget debate. They were wanting to give all of us $600 a year. It's the same concept. We are trusting moms and dads with their money by making a payment of $3,000 a month for those first three months of life. Now they can choose to, you know, pay for a nanny. They can choose to stay at home with the baby. That is the beauty of this proposal, right? That's why, truly, it is a unicorn direct cash assistance for these families to be able to stay home with their babies for those first 12 weeks of life.
NMPBS: And is there any accountability in the program if they want to spend it on shoes and drugs?
MARTINEZ: Well, look, I mean, that's assuming that parents don't want what's best for their child, right? And that's just not the case. That that argument doesn't hold water. There is a lot of accountability in the program, so the parent has to be working right the early childhood and care department and Workforce Solutions will come up with the rules to ensure that the program operates with full transparency. And I've got every amount of faith in the world in New Mexicans and their ability to raise their kids.