SENATE BILL 334
46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2004
INTRODUCED BY
Richard M. Romero
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES; REVISING THE GROUP INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STATE; AMENDING SECTION 10-7-4 NMSA 1978 (BEING LAWS 1941, CHAPTER 188, SECTION 1, AS AMENDED).
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 10-7-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1941, Chapter 188, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"10-7-4. GROUP INSURANCE--CAFETERIA PLAN--CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PUBLIC FUNDS.--
A. All state departments and institutions and all political subdivisions of the state, excluding municipalities, counties and political subdivisions of the state with twenty-five employees or fewer, shall cooperate in providing group term life, medical or disability income insurance for the benefit of eligible employees or salaried officers of the respective departments, institutions and subdivisions.
B. Effective July 1, 2004, the group insurance contributions of the state or any of its departments or institutions, including institutions of higher education and the public schools, shall be made as follows:
(1) [seventy-five] eighty percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is less than [fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000)] thirty thousand dollars ($30,000);
(2) seventy percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is [fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000)] thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) or more but less than [twenty thousand dollars ($20,000)] forty thousand dollars ($40,000); and
(3) [sixty-five] sixty percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is [twenty thousand dollars ($20,000)] forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more. [but less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000); or
(4) sixty percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more; and (5)]
C. Effective July 1, 2005, the group insurance contributions of the state or any of its departments or institutions, including institutions of higher education and the public schools, shall be made as follows:
(1) eighty percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000);
(2) seventy percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or more but less than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000); and
(3) sixty percent of the cost of the insurance of an employee whose annual salary is sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) or more.
D. The state shall not make any group insurance contributions for legislators. A legislator shall be eligible for group benefits only if the legislator contributes one hundred percent of the cost of the insurance.
E. As used in [this subsection] Subsections B through D of this section, "cost of the insurance" means the premium required to be paid to provide coverages. Any contributions of the political subdivisions of the state, except the public schools and political subdivisions of the state with twenty-five employees or fewer, shall not exceed sixty percent of the cost of the insurance.
[C.] F. When a public employee elects to participate in a cafeteria plan as authorized by the Cafeteria Plan Act and enters into a salary reduction agreement with the governmental employer, the [provision] provisions of Subsection B of this section with respect to the maximum contributions that can be made by the employer are not violated and will still apply. The employer percentage or dollar contributions as provided in Subsection B of this section shall be determined by the employee's gross salary prior to any salary reduction agreement.
[D.] G. Any group medical insurance plan offered pursuant to this section shall include effective cost-containment measures to control the growth of health care costs. The responsible public body that administers a plan offered pursuant to this section shall report annually by September 1 to appropriate interim legislative committees on the effectiveness of the cost-containment measures required by this subsection."
Section 2. TEMPORARY PROVISION--SALARY ADJUSTMENT.--A salary adjustment in January 2005 shall not reduce the state contributions pursuant to Subsection B of Section 1 of this act even if the salary adjustment of an employee places the employee in a higher salary bracket; provided that the state contribution may be lowered for salary adjustments on or after January 2006.
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