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| SPONSOR: | Altamirano | DATE TYPED: | 2/8/99 | HB | |||
| SHORT TITLE: | Subsidized Employment Project | SB | 101 | ||||
| ANALYST: | Burris | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY99 | FY2000 | FY99 | FY2000 | ||
| NFI | |||||
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)
Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Human Services Department analysis not provided
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 101amends the New Mexico Works Act (Act) to require the Human Services Department (Department) to begin a subsidized employment project for participants of the Act. As the Act is currently written, the Department is given the authority to apply for a food stamp waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture to run a subsidized employment project. Senate Bill 101 changes the law to require the Department to begin the program on February 18, 1998 to July 1, 2002.
Significant Issues
If approved the subsidized employment project will convert a participant's food stamp payment and cash assistance check into a wage subsidy. Issues that will need to be addressed in the pilot project are workers' compensation and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Participant's will need to be covered under workers' compensation and there is question whether the wage subsidy derived from food stamps and cash assistance will be sufficient to cover this cost. If not, there is question whether employers will be willing to cover this benefit. Furthermore, participants of the Act are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. This means, among other things, that participants may not be expected to work for less than minimum wage. With the required work hours per week increasing each year, it is possible that the wage subsidy will not be sufficient to cover a minimum wage paycheck.
RLB/njw