THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. BERNCO DEMOCRAT COMMISSIONERS REALIZE PAID LEAVE ORDINANCE WILL KILL JOBS, HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS
They were warned. Now they realize that small business owners throughout unincorporated areas of Bernalillo County weren't lying when they said that the paid leave ordinance rammed through by progressives will kill jobs. Now they want to modify the ordinance they passed just two weeks ago.
From the Albuquerque Journal:
Just weeks after the Bernalillo County Commission passed a vigorously debated paid leave ordinance, elected officials are already angling to make a significant change.
Commissioners Steven Michael Quezada and Charlene Pyskoty want to amend the ordinance to create different standards based on a business’ size – specifically reducing the requirements for those with fewer employees.
The ordinance as approved Aug. 20 would take effect July 1, 2020, and mandate businesses offer their workers at least one hour of paid leave for every 32 hours worked.....
Several business associations fought the paid leave mandate and the commission made some changes promoted by industry groups prior to passage.
The commission did not, however, exempt small businesses, as some critics requested, although Pyskoty had proposed a tiered system that permitted employers with smaller staffs to provide less leave.
But Pyskoty’s proposal failed in a dramatic 3-2 vote, with Quezada waiting several seconds before casting the decisive vote against it.
Quezada said Monday he subsequently reconsidered the idea, having done additional research and talked to more constituents, including small-business owners.
He and Pyskoty are introducing a similar amendment Tuesday night.
2. DEMOCRAT LEADERS WAFFLING ON SEN. RICHARD MARTINEZ; WON'T TAKE ACTION TO BOOT HIM UNTIL HIS TRIAL
Wait and see. That's how Sen. Richard Martinez's colleagues are handling his situation as he prepares for trial on his DWI charge from the incident in June.
From the Albuquerque Journal:
New Mexico’s top-ranking Senate Democrat says leading lawmakers will take a wait-and-see approach to deciding whether Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, who is fighting drunken driving charges, should retain his position as chairman of a key Senate committee.
Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, suggested in a recent interview that Senate leaders will wait for a resolution in Martinez’s court case before deciding whether he should be stripped of his post as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.
“I think the legal process needs to work itself out,” Papen told the Journal. “We don’t want to jump the gun and act like we have all the answers.”...
Martinez, a Democrat who has served in the Senate since 2001, has entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of aggravated DWI. He said last week that he does not plan to resign from the Legislature, even if convicted.
Martinez, a retired Rio Arriba County magistrate judge, was arrested June 28 after the SUV he was driving rear-ended another vehicle that was stopped at a red light in Española.
He could not successfully perform sobriety tests after the crash, as shown on police lapel-cam video, and refused to take a breath test to determine blood alcohol content. He also pleaded with an Española police officer not to arrest him.
The refusal to submit to a breath test is grounds for an aggravated DWI charge under New Mexico law.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether Martinez’s drunken driving case will be resolved before the Legislature convenes in January. Five state district judges in Santa Fe have already either been bumped off the case or recused themselves, and no trial date had been set as of Monday.
3. OTHER NEW MEXICO NEWS BRIEFS
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