45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

RELATING TO STATE EMPLOYEES; PROVIDING A SALARY DIFFERENTIAL FOR CERTAIN COMMUTERS; PRESCRIBING A PENALTY.

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

Section 1. A new section of Chapter 10, Article 7 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"[NEW MATERIAL] VANPOOL RIDERS--SALARY DIFFERENTIAL.--

A. A state employee who regularly commutes in a vanpool to and from work more than twenty miles each way may be paid a salary differential of thirty-two dollars fifty cents ($32.50) per pay period. The state employee may refuse the salary differential if it would place him in a different salary bracket for purposes of health insurance, retirement and other contributions.

B. A state employee who is paid the salary differential provided in Subsection A of this section shall notify his employer immediately if he ceases to commute in a vanpool. In addition to any other penalties, a state employee who fails notify his employer that he is no longer eligible for the salary differential shall be liable for repayment of the differential.

C. For the purposes of this section, "vanpool" means a multiple passenger motor vehicle that carries four or more persons, including the driver, on a regular basis."