RELATING TO LABOR; INCREASING THE STATE MINIMUM WAGE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 50-4-22 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1955, Chapter 200, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"50-4-22. MINIMUM WAGES.--

A. Every employer, except as provided in Section

50-4-21 NMSA 1978, shall pay the minimum wage rate of five dollars sixty-five cents ($5.65) an hour until July 1, 2003 and six dollars fifteen cents ($6.15) an hour on and after July 1, 2003, except that an employer furnishing food, utilities, supplies or housing to an employee who is engaged in agriculture may deduct the reasonable value of such furnished items from any wages due to the employee.

B. All employees covered by Subsection A of this section who customarily and regularly receive more than thirty dollars ($30.00) a month in tips shall be paid a minimum hourly wage of two dollars eighty-two and one-half cents ($2.825) until July 1, 2002 and three dollars seven and one-half cents ($3.075) on and after July 1, 2003. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but such a wage credit shall not exceed fifty percent of the minimum wage. All tips received by such employees shall be retained by the employee, except that nothing in this section shall prohibit the pooling of tips among employees.

C. An employer who is required to pay a minimum wage pursuant to Subsection A of this section may pay a training wage for the first ninety days of employment to employees under the age of twenty years. The training wage shall be not less than eighty-five percent of the current minimum wage provided in that subsection.

D. No employee covered by the provisions of Subsection A of this section shall be required to work more than forty hours in any week of seven days, unless he is paid one and one-half times his regular hourly rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours. For an employee who is paid a fixed salary for fluctuating hours and who is employed by an employer a majority of whose business in New Mexico consists of providing investigative services to the federal government, the hourly rate may be calculated in accordance with the provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the rules pursuant to that act; provided that in no case shall the hourly rate be less than the federal minimum wage."

Section 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2000.