New Mexico lawmakers are attempting to close a loophole thatallows employees to receive workers' compensation benefits forinjuries sustained at work while intoxicated or stoned, the NewMexico Watchdog newspaper reports.

The story cites an example in 2006 where a Las Cruces citysanitation employee fell off a garbage truck and injured his head.Although he had a blood alcohol level of .12 at the time of hisfall (nearly double the legal limit in New Mexico), an appealscourt allowed him $90,000, or 90% of his workers” comp claim.

“The intent of the law called for a penalty to be built in if anemployee showed up for work drunk and got into a car accident, buthow the law is applied now, it's very hard for that to go intoeffect,” Darin Childers, director of the New Mexico Workers'Compensation Advisory Council, told the newspaper.

Republican Rep. Dennis Roch, who introduced the bill to amendthe state's Workers' Compensation Act, says in the story that thebill is “a personal responsibility issue.”