With the New Mexico Senate voting to table a right-to-work bill Tuesday, Republican lawmakers fear there is not much hope to move it forward.
The bill, which would ban mandatory union dues as a condition of employment, was able to pass through the Republican controlled House but was quickly stopped at the Democrat controlled Senate. During a hearing on the bill, the Public Affairs Committee voted 5 to 3 to table it.
As the Albuquerque Journal reports, with less than two weeks left in the 60 day legislative session, it is unlikely the bill will get final approval. Senate Republicans say there are few options left unless they can get some Democrats on their side.
“It will be very difficult unless a couple of Democrats change their vote and let the bill come to Senate floor,” state Sen. Carroll Leavell told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
At this point, it is unclear what options Republican leaders are currently considering, and if any of them involve persuading their Democrat colleagues.
“There may be efforts to do something with the bill, but I have not heard, nor have I talked to the sponsor to see what, if any, options are being explored,” state Sen. Bill Burt noted to TheDCNF.
“It’s extremely disappointing that the Democrat-controlled Senate would choose obstruction over a common-sense compromise that would raise the minimum wage and give our workers the freedom to choose whether they financially contribute to a union,” state Rep. Dennis Roch, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement to the Albuquerque Journal.
Nevertheless, union leaders are on the lookout for any attempt to revive the bill.
“We know it’s not over,” Charles Goodmacher, the director of government relations for the National Education Association-New Mexico, told the Albuquerque Journal. “There are opportunities the proponents of the legislation may seize upon.”
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