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Committee advances bill letting Workforce Secretary waive one-week unemployment waiting period after disasters
Summary
House Bill 249 would allow the New Mexico Secretary of Workforce Solutions to waive the one-week waiting period for unemployment insurance in a declared state or federal disaster; the committee gave the bill a due-pass recommendation with a recorded 3-2-0 tally in the transcript.
Representative Sanchez introduced House Bill 249, which would permit the Secretary of Workforce Solutions to waive the one-week waiting period for eligibility for state unemployment benefits when a federal or state emergency or disaster declaration is in effect.
Leonardo Castaneda, senior policy advisor with the Department of Workforce Solutions, told the committee the change arose from the department’s response to recent fires in Ruidoso and floods earlier in the summer. Castaneda said the waiver would align the state waiting-period rule with federal disaster unemployment programs and remove what he described as “an unfair” discrepancy during declared disasters.
A senator moved a due-pass recommendation and the chair instructed that, without opposition, members present mark affirmative. The transcript records the committee tally as 3-2-0 and the chair announced, “Representative Sanchez, you have a due pass on House Bill 249.” The transcript does not list individual yea/nay votes by name within the excerpt.
Supporters framed HB 249 as a narrow, administratively focused fix to speed benefits for workers displaced by disasters. The transcript does not include details about statutory citations or implementation language beyond authorizing the Secretary of Workforce Solutions to waive the one-week waiting period when a disaster declaration exists.
