Retired attorney Charles Sullivan argues that voters considering Constitutional Amendment 4 should examine the retirement benefits New Mexico lawmakers already receive.

Charles Sullivan, Guest columnist

This November, New Mexico voters are being given the "opportunity" to amend their state constitution (Amendment 4) to authorize salaries for their legislators, replacing the longstanding per diem reimbursement system. If approved, legislators will begin receiving a salary of approximately $67,800 per year — a figure far higher than legislators in any of the surrounding five states. I am unaware of any current New Mexico legislator who has offered to give up their legislator retirement plan in return for a salary. You will soon see why.

The New Mexico Legislature is the only one in the country that does not receive an annual salary. Instead, legislators receive a daily per diem based on the IRS travel reimbursement rates for Santa Fe. Through September 2026, the amount is $247.

The primary statutes controlling legislators' retirement pay are contained in NMSA 1978, Sections 10-11-43.1 through 10-11-43.5. It is an extraordinarily generous defined-benefit plan. Unlike any other state legislator pension plan in the country, a legislator in New Mexico can retire after only 10 years of service and immediately start receiving a pension regardless of age. It is not uncommon for former legislators in their 30s and 40s to start receiving lifetime pensions.

To show the generosity of the plan, I will use the following hypothetical.

A 28-year-old man is elected to the New Mexico Legislature and serves for 10 years, from Jan. 1, 2016, until Dec. 31, 2025. He starts receiving his pension in 2026 when he is 39 years old. His life expectancy in 2026 is 38.55 years.

Per statute, he has made the following plan contributions during his 10 years in the Legislature: $600 annually from 2016 through 2018 and $1,000 annually from 2019 through 2025. His payments total $8,800.

The formula to determine the retirement benefit after 10 years of service is the per diem for Santa Fe in 2026 ($247) multiplied by 14%, multiplied by 90, multiplied by 10 years of service.

The calculation is $247 × 0.14 × 90 × 10 = $31,122 in annual pension benefits.

When the annual pension is multiplied by the life expectancy of 38.55 years, the total comes to an astonishing $1,199,753.10. That figure is 136 times the $8,800 pension contribution made by the hypothetical legislator.

But wait. Cost-of-living increases are permitted in the pension two years after the pension begins.

Assuming a 3% cost-of-living increase beginning in the third year and continuing annually through the remainder of the 38.55-year actuarial period, the projected total comes to the extraordinary sum of approximately $2,183,725.

This is 248 times the original contribution of $8,800.

Mexican drug cartels would be envious of the numbers.

Gluttony, thy name is the New Mexico state legislators' pension plan.

Charles Sullivan is a retired attorney who has lived in New Mexico since 1978.