New Mexico: Republican Senator Pitches Living Wage Ban

A day after a House committee killed a measure to bar New Mexico cities and towns from mandating an increased minimum wage, a Sandia Park senator made a renewed pitch for her own anti-"living wage" measure. Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, a Republican, said she's concerned that higher minimum wages provide a disincentive for entry-level employees to work their way up the ladder to better jobs. At a Roundhouse news conference, Beffort said that with mandated higher pay rates, such workers won't seek more skills and better careers. Santa Fe City Councilor David Coss— a supporter of Santa Fe's living wage ordinance— disagreed. "So she's saying that they're not poor enough?" asked Coss. Beffort's Senate Bill 535, which has yet to be heard in a Senate committee, would nullify Santa Fe's 2003 living wage law as well as prevent other communities from crafting their own minimum wage rates above the national minimum of $5.15-per-hour. Santa Fe's ordinance now requires companies and nonprofit organizations with 25 or more employees to pay a minimum wage of $8.50 an hour. An increase to $9.50 an hour is scheduled for January 2006; another increase to $10.50 is scheduled for January 2008. [more]

•  Utah Republicns approved a bill that would prohibit government entities from giving preference for contracts to companies that pay a so-called living wage. [more]