Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
bACK TO SCHOOL January 6-10, 2015 | Volume 119 | Issue 78
House to vote on employee rights, pay By Sayyed Shah
At least six House bills with relevance to the UNM community will be presented in the next legislative session. The draft bills in the House are for minimum wage increases, supportive and rapid rehousing for the homeless, a pregnant workers accommodation act, an employee preference act, no public employee union dues from payroll, and a LGBTQ health disparities task force. A bill proposed by lawmakers Luciano “Lucky” Varela and Sheryl Williams Stapleton pushes for a raise in the minimum wage up to $10.10 per hour. “However, if the consumer price index for the western region for urban wage earners and clerical workers, as published by the United States Department of Labor, increases from its measure on the prior January 1, then beginning on the next July 1, an employer shall pay an employee no less than the previous year’s minimum wage rate adjusted upward by an amount in proportion to that increase,” according to the proposed House Bill 20. Rep. Tomas E. Salazar will introduce a bill proposing appropriations of $1 million from the general fund to the Human Services Department to be spent by New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority in fiscal year 2016. If passed, it would support homeless people. The services to be provided by the Human Services Department include assistance in the transitional supportive housing, permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing, according to the draft bill. “No more than five percent of this appropriation shall be used by the NM Mortgage Finance Authority for administrative purposes,” according to HB 47. Another bill proposed by Rep. Gail Chasey would require employers to prohibit discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition. HB 37 requires that employees arrange for reasonable accommodation of an employee’s or job applicant’s pregnancy, childbirth or other related issues. The bill stresses for prohibition of retaliation “for an employee’s or job applicant’s assertion of a claim pursuant to the pregnant worker accommodation act,” according to the draft bill. Senator Sander Rue will introduce the “Employee Preference Act.” The draft bill stresses the prohibition of mandatory membership and payment of fees in the labor organization. “A person shall not be required as a condition of hiring, promotion or continued employment with an employer, to become or remain a
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General page 2
File Photo / Daily Lobo
The 2015 state legislative session begins Jan. 20 at the state Capitol building in Santa Fe. This year’s will be a 60-day session, and seven legislative bills regarding UNM have been prefiled.
Senate legislation targets students By J.R. Oppenheim Seven bills regarding UNM will be brought to the upcoming New Mexico legislative session, including one to establish scholarship programs for national merit scholars. If passed, Senate Bill 11 would amend the Legislative Lottery Tuition to grant national merit scholarships to cover students’ tuitions and fees so long as recipients have been “designated a national merit finalist by the national merit scholarship corporation,” the proposed amendment states. The proposed legislation, introduced by state Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, and published on the Legislature’s website, stipulates recipients be
enrolled in a higher education institution or branch campus within one year of high school graduation or receive a graduateequivalent diploma. No more than 75 percent of the scholarships will go to out-of-state residents, the legislation states. Also, the scholarships may be renewed each semester as long as full-time students have a 2.5 grade-point average or above, the legislation states. Another legislator, state Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, has introduced a bill that would give the UNM Board of Regents the administrative authority over the Adolescent Treatment Hospital and Adolescent Residential Treatment Facility Hospital, not the state Department of Health.
The board of regents would then appoint the five-member Adolescent Treatment Hospital Governing Board, SB 43 states. The five other bills involved propose appropriations to UNM. According to the state legislature’s website, those bills are: SB 31, introduced by state Sen. Michael Padilla, which would give $250,000 from the general fund for a civic leadership and legislative processes training program for Hispanic high school students; SB 24, also introduced by Padilla, which would grant $1.1 million to UNM’s pain management center; SB 64, introduced by state Sen. Cisco McSorley, which would appropriate $250,000 to the UNM’s Global Education Office and another $250,000 to NMSU’s
Office of Education Abroad; SB 80, introduced by state Sen. Howie Morales, would give $400,000 to fund planning for a bachelor’s of arts and doctor of dental science in the Health Sciences Center; and SB 89, also introduced by Morales, which would appropriate $3 million to UNM’s Brain Safe Athletes program. All five appropriations bills state any remaining money not used for said programs will return to the state’s general fund by fiscal year 2016’s end. J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor at the Daily Lobo. Contact him at jroppenheim@dailylobo. com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
Nonprofit lobbies for peace and justice By David Lynch
As state lawmakers gear up for this year’s 60-day legislative session in Santa Fe beginning on Jan. 20, one Albuquerque organization is readying to advocate for issues related to peace and justice both in the community and nationally. The nonprofit Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, in collaboration with UNM and the Albuquerque community, is preparing for one of its busiest projects of the year: calling attention to peace and justice issues at the New Mexico Legislature, Sue Schuurman, center coordinator, said. Juliana Bilowich, a community liaison for UNM’s Peace and Justice Studies program and an intern at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, said the organization is building upon last year’s action
platform so that volunteers in the community can pledge to call their state lawmakers and share their opinions on issues related to peace and justice. “We’ve taken input from the peace and justice center, input from UNM’s Peace and Justice Studies program, as well as other community members, and we collaborated to make a network of our own and call it ActionNM, a community action network,” she said. Bilowich said they received 85 pledges in 2014 that would be assigned daily action alerts so they could help impact certain votes to align them more with the peace and justice goals of the community. They plan on expanding that network this year. According to the network’s flyer, ActionNM’s mission statement
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Activism page 2
Courtesy Photo / ABQ Center for Peace and Justice
Sue Schuurman, left, and Jesse Hall record the ABQ Center for Peace and Justice’s weekly piece for KUNM’s Grassroots New Mexico radio show.