By Associated Press - Friday, February 1, 2019

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on activity in the New Mexico Legislature (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

A bill to raise the minimum wage in New Mexico and do away with exemptions for tipped workers is advancing over the objections of restaurant owners and workers.

A House committee on economic development endorsed the bill by a 5-4 vote with only Democrats in support on Friday.

At a nearly four-hour hearing, organized labor groups and advocates for the poor faced off with restaurateurs and wait staff who object to the proposal to eliminating a minimum wage exemption for tipped workers. The bill would raise the minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $12 by mid-2021 and tie further increases to inflation estimates.

Under current law, businesses can pay workers as little as $2.13 an hour if they receive enough tips to surpass the state’s $7.50 minimum hourly wage. Democratic bill sponsor Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque says that system is prone to abuse.

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5:40 p.m.

A bill that would remove New Mexico’s dormant criminal ban on abortion is advancing through the Legislature.

A House committee on judicial policy endorsed the bill on a 10-4 vote with Republicans in opposition.

The proposal would remove a criminal ban on abortion in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns a 1973 decision that made the procedure legal nationwide. Democrats say the cause has taken on urgency with the addition of Republican-appointed justices under President Donald Trump.

The new bill allows medical personnel and hospitals to refuse to participate in abortion procedures based on moral or religious beliefs.

A 1969 New Mexico statute made it a felony for an abortion provider to terminate a pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, birth defects and serious threats to a woman’s health.

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3 p.m.

The Legislature is deliberating a proposal to raise New Mexico’s hourly minimum wage from $7.50 to $12 by July of 2021.

A House panel on economic development on Friday gathered public testimony about the proposal from Democratic Rep. Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque.

Labor Secretary Bill McCamley says the bill aligns with the Democratic governor’s recommendation to raise the minimum wage to $12 and link future increase to inflation.

Restaurateurs object to provisions of Garcia’s bill that eliminate exceptions to the minimum wage for tipped workers. Garcia says the restaurant servers currently are exposed to exploitation.

A competing proposal from Senate corporations committee chairman Clemente Sanchez of Grants would raise the minimum wage to $10 and leave current rules for tip workers intact. It has not yet been debated.

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