The Bernalillo County Commission undermines democracy when it ignores the will of the voters. In a representative democracy, our elected officials are supposed to represent us. However, when the voters speak directly through a ballot measure, they have taken democracy in their own hands. Now a few members of the county commission have decided to undermine the voters who recently voted down a job-killing sick leave ordinance and instead are trying to ram the measure through at the county level without even reaching out to impacted businesses or conducting a bona fide economic impact analysis.
While the proponents have made amendments from the original ballot measure, there are still very serious problems. The measure’s language is unclear but appears to cover all businesses in Bernalillo County that require a county permit to operate, and would mandate that the employer provide paid sick leave to all employees, even if that business only has two employees and the workers only work two to three hours per week. The proposal would add costs and expensive record keeping for small local businesses.
But the worst part is…Click Here to Continue to the Journal Article