Mean-spirited Bill to Cut Public Employee Salaries
Modified but Passes by One Vote in Senate Public Affairs Committee Tuesday Evening
It has become clear that Conservative leaders like Senator John Arthur
Smith and the Senate Finance Committee he controls intend to cut school employee
and state employee salaries. Senator Smith said
as much on the floor of the Senate yesterday afternoon. The
action on Senate Bill 246 in the Senate Public Affairs Committee cemented that idea if anyone
had any lingering doubts. As proposed by Senator Stuart Ingle, this
measure would increase your and state employee's retirement
withholdings by 2.64%, thus reducing your take-home pay by that
amount. The state would then save the funds by not funding 2.64% of
the school district's share of retirement withholdings.
Senator Tim Jennings,
President Pro Tempore of the Senator made an unusual stop at the
committee to plea for Senate Bill 246 to be sent on to the Senate Finance Committee as a tool for budget balancing. Senate Bill 246 is another attempt to balance the state budget on
the backs of employees. As the committee discussed the
bill it became clear that most Democratic members were against the
bill and two Democrats and all Republicans were for it in some form.
As the bill left committee, two Democrats and all Republicans worked
out an agreement to change the across board cut to a progressive
salary cut based on total salary; the bill was sent by the same five
Senators with no recommendation to the Senate Finance Committee.
That agreement was as follows: no
additional reduction for employees making less than $20,000; a 1% cut
for employees between $20,000 and $40,000 and a 1.75% cut for
employees making between $40,000 and $65,000; the cut for employees
over $65,000 would be whatever was necessary to come up with
$72,000,000 in savings to the state. With this amendment agreed
upon, Senator Tim
Eichenberg moved that the committee pass the bill on with no
recommendation. While the amendment was an improvement, this
very bad idea still needs to be killed (it's odd
that Republican Senators can agree on a progressive payroll tax for
one segment of New Mexicans, public employees, but not a progressive
income tax for the wealthiest New Mexicans!). One more no vote
would have effectively killed this bad idea, which is what we
supported; however, the vote was as follows:
Tell all Senators that teachers and other
public school employees and state employees don't deserve this kind of
disrespect anytime, much less in a year when they have seen no salary
increases and last year's 1.5% increase in retirement withholdings!
Tell them to defeat Senate Bill 246.
Senate Finance Committee Aiming for Thursday or
Friday Unveiling of Its Changes to Budget
After last week's action in the House on the budget and tax
bills, the action now turns to the Senate Finance Committee. The House did the right thing. It refused to cut public employee salaries
and was willing to risk raising taxes to prevent any more drastic cuts
to education and vital state services. Now it's the Senate's
turn. Conservative leaders like Senator John Arthur
Smith, chair of the Senate Finance Committee made no secret of their distain of the
House approach in a meeting of the Senate as a committee of the whole
to hear about the House action on Saturday. That committee is aiming
for a Thursday or Friday unveiling of its budget proposal. We need to let committee
members and all Senators know that the better choice is to raise
revenue, not cut public schools and other vital state services. Call Your Senator's Office Now!!
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