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Article: Lujan seeks speedier route to $7.50 state minimum wage.
- Article from:
- The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM)
- Article date:
- January 20, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Santa Fe New Mexican. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: David Miles
Jan. 20--House Speaker Ben Lujan on Thursday introduced a bill to increase the state's minimum wage to $7.50 an hour next year and automatically adjust the pay floor each year after that to account for inflation.
Lujan's measure differs from a competing proposal from Gov. Bill Richardson, who wants to phase in a minimum-wage increase to $7.50 over three years without an automatic-inflation adjuster. The House speaker said the value of the hourly $7.50 pay floor would be diminished by the time it took effect in 2009 under Richardson's proposal. "We feel that it's important that we do it now," Lujan, a Nambe Democrat, said in the ...