Commentary: Amendment 4 Writes a Paycheck Without a Job Description

Vote NO on Constitutional Amendment 4. It sets a salary for New Mexico's 112 legislators but never defines the job that salary pays for.

Amendment 4 would pay each legislator the state's median household income — about $67,800 today — starting with members seated in January 2029. The figure adjusts every year after that. Legislators would keep their $247-a-day per diem, their mileage and their pension.

We understand the appeal. New Mexico is the only state that pays its lawmakers no salary, and serving in Santa Fe costs real money. But voters are being asked to approve the paycheck first and settle the work later. That is backwards.

A salary with no job description

The Legislature meets 60 days in odd-numbered years and 30 days in even-numbered years. Outside those sessions, nothing in Amendment 4 requires a minimum number of hours, a district office, town halls, constituent-service standards or attendance at interim committees.

The Legislative Council Service's own nonpartisan analysis notes the amendment leaves open what counts as legislative service, how the income figure is set, and how benefits, pensions and per diem are treated. It places no limit on outside income. No legislator would have to leave another job. A member could draw the full salary and keep a full-time career.

How much do legislators work now? Supporters cite a 2023 survey in which legislators reported averaging about 20 hours a week on legislative work year-round. Take that at face value: 20 hours times 52 weeks is about 1,040 hours — half a full-time schedule.

At $67,800, that is roughly $65 an hour, the equivalent of about $135,600 for a full-time worker. And that figure is self-reported, not drawn from time records. The Legislature's own 2022 study by UNM's Bureau of Business and Economic Research drew survey answers from 43 of the 112 members.

The whole package approaches $90,000

In a 60-day session year, salary plus session per diem alone comes to $82,620 — before interim committee days, mileage or pension credit. Add 20 interim committee days and it passes $87,500.

The pension is already generous. At today's per diem, 10 years of service earns about $31,100 a year for life; 20 years earns about $62,200. Lawmakers raised that formula by 50% in 2024.

On health care, current law lets legislators join the state plan only if they pay the full premium. But by deleting the constitutional ban on other allowances, Amendment 4 lets a future Legislature add benefits for itself.

The cost of salaries alone is about $7.6 million a year. The proposed pay would also exceed the 2025 national average legislative salary of $44,320, and top what lawmakers earn in Texas, Colorado and Arizona.

Paid more than the people who keep us safe

The people responsible for our patients, students and children work full time and earn less — or about the same — for twice the hours.

A nursing assistant working full time earns about $19 an hour. By supporters' own hours estimate, a legislator would earn about $65 an hour in salary alone.

These workers can be fired for not showing up. Amendment 4 sets no such standard for the people who would set their budgets.

A NO vote is not a vote against ever paying legislators

Even some who favor pay have doubts about this version. The Rio Grande Foundation's Paul Gessing says he is not against salaries in principle, only this amount. An Albuquerque Journal opinion columnist who backs legislative pay plans to vote no because it arrives without transparency reforms.

A proposal worth supporting would:

1. Define the job: minimum constituent-service hours, regular town halls or district office hours, and interim-committee attendance.
2. Address outside employment and conflicts of interest.
3. Let an independent citizens commission set pay instead of tying it to a formula lawmakers wrote. A 2026 resolution from Sens. Craig Brandt and Pat Boone proposed such a commission paired with term limits; it did not reach the ballot.
4. Decide whether per diem and the per-diem-based pension continue once a salary exists.
5. Set pay in line with what full-time public servants earn for comparable hours.

Vote NO on Amendment 4, and ask every legislative candidate on your ballot to bring back a plan that defines the work before it sets the pay.

What supporters say

Voters should weigh the other side. Supporters — including Common Cause New Mexico, NM CAFé and the Vote For Change coalition — argue that an unpaid Legislature limits service to retirees, the wealthy and the self-employed.

Tying pay to median income keeps lawmakers' pay connected to ordinary families, and it falls if that income falls.

Per diem doesn't cover costs: most legislators surveyed said per diem and mileage fall short, and nine in ten said they work 30 or more days a year without claiming it.

A stronger Legislature: a UNM study ranked New Mexico near the bottom in legislative professionalism and recommended salaries, staff and longer sessions.

Voters are split: an August Journal Poll found 39% for the amendment, 21% against and 40% undecided or wanting details.

Our editorial board suggests a no vote on this amendment and a new amendment be introduced next legislative session better defining the terms and conditions with an independent citizens commission. 

Sources

• Source NM — Constitutional Amendment 4 explainer (salary $67,800; NCSL average $44,320; Gessing)
• Source NM voter guide — Amendment 4 (2029 start; removes ban on other allowances)
• Albuquerque Journal — Is New Mexico finally ready to pay its legislators? ($247 per diem)
• Albuquerque Journal — Journal Poll on Amendment 4
• Albuquerque Journal opinion, Common Cause NM (20 hours/week survey)
• Albuquerque Journal opinion — Pay legislators but demand more
• Albuquerque Journal opinion, Rio Grande Foundation
• Albuquerque Journal — Legislators boost their retirement pay
• NM PERA — Legislative member retirement plan
• NM Legislature — SB 503 (2003), legislator group insurance
• UNM BBER legislative modernization presentation
• Common Cause NM — per diem and retirement facts
• NM Legislature — SJR 2 (2026), citizen salary commission
• Santa Fe New Mexican — CYFD worker pay
• Source NM — CYFD caseloads
• City of Roswell — police officer pay schedule (2023)
• Legislative Finance Committee — HB 156 analysis (NEA teacher pay)
• BLS OEWS May 2025 via TradeCareerPath — NM nursing assistant wages
• Legislative Council Service, 2026 Constitutional Amendment arguments (via Otero County Voter Guide)
• Alamogordo Town News Nonpartisan Voters Guide

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