The New Mexico Legislature will convene on January 21, 2025, where among other issues, we anticipate lawmakers will consider several proposals that could increase the cost of doing business in the state.

NFIB State Director Jason Espinoza held a virtual event to preview the 2025 legislature, highlighting various opportunities and challenges we anticipate will come up in the next session.

CLICK HERE to watch the full event.

“Given the amount of turnover we saw this last election cycle, we’re spending a lot of time educating the new legislators about the challenges our small business owners face,” Espinoza said. “Engagement from our members will  be critical in our advocacy efforts, especially since we anticipate another run at a Paid Family Medical Leave mandate, which would disproportionately hurt Main Street businesses.”

OPPORTUNITIES

Actuarial Review of Mandates

Health insurance mandates often increase costs for small business owners. Legislators need more data to understand the implications of these mandates. NFIB is drafting legislation to create an avenue for legislators to trigger an actuarial review of proposed benefit mandates.

Addressing the Legal Environment in New Mexico

The legal environment is truly unbalanced, resulting in increased litigation and higher costs. NFIB is looking at avenues to provide greater transparency in New Mexico’s legal landscape, including addressing third-party financing of litigation. NFIB is drafting legislation that would mandate disclosure of third-party financing of litigation and prohibit those third parties from receiving a larger share of the awards than the plaintiff themselves.

CHALLENGES

OSHA Heat Stress Proposed Standard

This would be a state-led initiative that would likely stipulate that when the heat index reaches 90 °, employers must:

• Provide paid 15-minute rest breaks every two hours
• Monitor workers for signs of heat illness
• Alert employees to the conditions and measures to be taken
• Place warning signs in indoor work areas with ambient temperatures above 120°

Workers Compensation & Attorney Fees

In order to ensure our state has an efficient and cost-effective workers’ compensation system that benefits both the employers and employees here in New Mexico, attorney fees have been capped at $22,500. There has been a recommendation to increase caps to $30,000, but the trial bar is signaling that isn’t enough. We anticipate they will once again introduce legislation to completely remove attorney fee caps in the workers’ compensation system.

Paid Family Medical Leave

This is a re-run of similar proposals that NFIB has defeated in the past two years, imposing a nearly one percent payroll tax and mandates 12 weeks of PFML and safe leave for employees. The proposal includes definitions of ‘family members’ that is overly broad and ambiguous and has no exceptions for small businesses.

CLICK HERE to watch the full event.

Make your voice heard! Direct advocacy in Santa Fe, along with the help of our members who actively reach out and voice their concerns with lawmakers, makes a big difference.

Have you downloaded the NFIB Engage App? That’s where you can stay up to date with legislation that will impact your business at the state or federal level, and how you can get involved.

Download the NFIB Engage App today by visiting www.nfib.com/app/.

In the app, you will receive:

• Action alerts about legislation affecting small business
• Opportunities to contact your lawmakers
• Invites for NFIB events and online webinars
• News on NFIB’s latest work for small business in your state and around the country

Already have the app? Don’t forget to create or update your member profile! Your profile allows us to customize your experience with NFIB. For more information, visit the NFIB Advocacy Center.