New Mexico legislators seek automatic increases to base wage

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic legislators want to link the statewide minimum wage to an inflation index to provide potentially automatic annual increases. Draft bills from state Reps. Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque and Christine Chandler of Los Alamos would provide an automatic adjustment to the state’s minimum wage based on the consumer price index published by the U.S. Department of Labor. Gradual increases to the statewide minimum wage were adopted by lawmakers in 2019 and have run their course with a boost on Jan. 1 to $12 per hour. Chandler’s bill would initially raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour in 2024, with automatic annual increases thereafter to offset inflation.