Family Leave bill is back; Funded by 2-cent-an-hour employee tax: In 2007, Washington adopted FLI with benefits to new parents scheduled to begin October 1, 2009. As originally passed, the program had no dedicated funding source. Governor Gregoire put preparations for the new program on hold in the fall of 2008 as part of her response to the projected budget deficit. But now the program is back, and has legislative support.

Family leave law expansion mulled: The paid-family-leave program that the governor suspended to save money could reappear, only bigger. It would be paid for with a 2-cents-an-hour payroll tax on most employees. Any such tax would have to be approved by voters, but the chairwoman of the state Senate Health Care Committee is confident that the pubic would approve it.