New Mexico Senate votes for $9 minimum wage
The state Senate voted 24-6 Wednesday to eventually raise the statewide minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $9 an hour.
Senate Bill 386, sponsored by Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, would increase the wage to $8.25 in October, then to $9 in April 2018.
The bill also would allow employers to have an $8 training wage for employees for 60 days, which would go into effect in October.
The minimum wage for tipped employees, currently $2.13 an hour, would rise to $2.38 in October then to $2.63 in April 2018.
Three of New Mexico’s four largest cities already have minimum wages higher than the one proposed in Sanchez’s bill. Coincidentally, Santa Fe’s minimum wage, the state’s highest, increased Wednesday to $11.09 an hour.
Sanchez’s bill now goes to the House of Representatives.
The Santa Fe New Mexican is a sister-paper of The Taos News.
