At the Albuquerque City Council meeting last night, the local business community was out in full force and (with the exception of just a few supportive business owners) united in opposing left-wing advocates’ efforts to put a slanted summary on the fall ballot.
In an unforeseen move, the Council took up a separate resolution to place an advisory measure on the fall ballot that would (if passed) “encourage” the Council to consider some kind of sick leave mandate.
While one could argue that it would be better to simply have the full text of the existing sick leave proposal on the ballot, it will be interesting to see how both measures fare this fall. Certainly the makeup of City Council and the results of the Mayor’s race will determine whether Council embraces a sick leave mandate at all and what form it would take.
The most important news is that Albuquerque’s much-maligned business community showed up in force to oppose the measure and to impress upon the Council just how important this issue is to them. In my own comments as the head of a small non-profit I noted that the current sick leave ballot measure has no exemptions for non-profits or organizations of just a few employees for whom the red tape and paperwork would be difficult hurdles. 
