A. All municipalities, counties and political subdivisions with twenty-five employees or fewer shall cooperate in providing group term life, medical or disability income insurance for the benefit of eligible employees or salaried officers of the respective departments, institutions and subdivisions.
B. Municipalities, counties and political subdivisions with twenty-five employees or fewer may contribute any amount up to one hundred percent of the cost of the insurance. As used in this section, "cost of the insurance" means the premium required to be paid to provide coverages.
C. When a public employee elects to participate in a cafeteria plan as authorized by the Cafeteria Plan Act [10-7-14 to 10-7-19 NMSA 1978] and enters into a salary reduction agreement with a municipal or county employer, the provisions of Subsection B of this section with respect to the maximum contributions that can be made by the employer are not violated and will still apply. The employer contributions as provided in Subsection B of this section shall be determined by the employee's gross salary prior to any salary reduction agreement.
D. Any group medical insurance plan offered pursuant to this section shall include effective cost-containment measures to control the growth of health care costs. The responsible public body that administers a plan offered pursuant to this section shall report annually by September 1 to appropriate interim legislative committees on the effectiveness of the cost-containment measures required by this subsection.
E. Exempt from the provisions of Section 10-7-4 NMSA 1978 are all municipalities, counties and political subdivisions with twenty-five employees or fewer.
History: Laws 1991, ch. 191, § 1; 1994, ch. 62, § 19; 1999, ch. 44, § 2.
The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, inserted "and political subdivisions with twenty-five employees or fewer" in Subsection A, in the first sentence of Subsection B, and at the end of Subsection E, and made minor stylistic changes.
The 1994 amendment, effective March 4, 1994, substituted "departments" for "department" in Subsection A, deleted "percentage or dollar" following "employer" in the last sentence of Subsection C, redesignated former Subsection D as Subsection E, and added Subsection D.
Structure 2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 7 - Compensation and Working Conditions Generally
Section 10-7-2 - Salaries and wages; rules; direct deposit.
Section 10-7-3 - [Inapplicability of act.]
Section 10-7-4 - Group insurance; cafeteria plan; contributions from public funds.
Section 10-7-4.1 - Children, youth and families department; group life insurance.
Section 10-7-5 - [Premiums; deduction from salaries.]
Section 10-7-5.1 - Local public bodies; group health and group life insurance.
Section 10-7-6 - [Repeal and saving clause.]
Section 10-7-7 - [Old-age benefits under Social Security Act.]
Section 10-7-8 - Annuities and deferred compensation plans; reductions from gross salaries.
Section 10-7-9 - Minimum salary rate.
Section 10-7-10 - Accumulated sick leave; payment of certain excess amounts.
Section 10-7-11 - Accumulated sick leave prior to retirement; payment of certain excess amounts.
Section 10-7-12 - Government cost savings incentive award.
Section 10-7-13 - Leave; coordination with workmen's compensation benefits.
Section 10-7-14 - Short title.
Section 10-7-15 - Definitions.
Section 10-7-16 - Cafeteria plan; optional.
Section 10-7-17 - Salary reduction agreements.
Section 10-7-18 - Status of salary reduction.
Section 10-7-19 - Applicability to deferred compensation plans.
Section 10-7-20 - Qualified transportation fringe benefit.
Section 10-7-21 - Undercover agents; life insurance benefits.