Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48) (left) is Chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36) (right) is chair of the House Finance Committee.
Have you called or emailed your legislators yet about Family & Medical Leave and Paid Sick Days? If not, now is the time!
Here’s what’s happened so far this week:
Family and Medical Leave Insurance, HB 1457 had a hearing in House Finance, but was not scheduled for a vote in the last committee meeting before the policy cutoff deadline. Our message to legislators: Continue considering family leave insurance as a bill necessary to the budget.
Paid Sick Days, HB 1313 had a hearing in House Appropriations, but has not been scheduled for a vote. Our message to legislators: Move HB 1313 out of committee!
Please call the Legislative Hotline: 1.800.562.6000 and leave a message for your legislators today. Tell them to keep moving forward Paid Sick Leave and Family and Medical Leave Insurance by passing them out of committee by tomorrow, March 1st.
Tell legislators: Paid sick days and family and medical leave insurance are important to the health and well-being of our state’s people, families, and economy. These policies are also fiscally responsible:
Not passing HB 1313 and HB 1457 digs the long term state budget hole deeper.
Assuring that all workers earn paid leave to deal with critical health and family needs reduces public costs for health care, elder care, and public assistance.
Boosting the healthy development of our children will pay off in higher educational achievement.
Supporting family economic security restores health to our state economy.
In response to the looting and chaos that erupted in Baghdad following the American invasion of Iraq, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “Democracy is messy.” To some, it was a callous remark, but not entirely an inaccurate description of how a representative democracy actually governs.
State lawmakers frequently propose legislation to raid the general fund for pet projects that serve the special interests of a constituency of voters. These measures often arise and get passed into law without regard for how they fit with the sum total of all other legislation.
Aside from the governor’s annual budget and State of the State address, there is no big picture vision for what the people of Washington want our state to become. Instead, it’s cobbled together by individual, and often competing, pieces of legislation.
Such is the case with the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI) law. The Legislature passed a law in 2007 granting workers of businesses with fewer than 50 employees up to five weeks of time off without worry of losing their jobs. It includes a small stipend. Women having babies, for example, could receive up to $250 per week – based on a formula using their rate of pay – and spend time with their newborn child.
Lawmakers have postponed implementation of the law because they considered it an undue burden on families and small businesses during the recession. A bill making its way through the Legislature would repeal the law.
At the same time, several other bills in the House and Senate acknowledge the benefits of early childhood education, and would require the Department of Early Learning to expand its education and assistance programs. Other bills call for legislative task forces on early learning, and to fund expansion of early learning programs.
Education experts agree that when parents are able to spend quality time with their children from birth to age 5, the children do better in school, are more likely to graduate and are less likely to become a burden on taxpayers through the criminal justice system.
Allowing women who work in small businesses to spend five weeks with a newborn – another bill would expand the leave to 12 weeks – is consistent with state support for our early learning goals.
The FMLI law also supports the state’s drive for economic recovery. Less than 10 percent of businesses in Washington offer paid family leave plans. Middle- and low-income workers must rely on 12 weeks of unpaid leave to recover from serious injuries or for care of a newborn.
Taking unpaid leave can lead to financial disaster for average income households with mortgages and other bills to pay. The small amount of assistance provided by FMLI can make the difference whether a parent can afford to stay home with a newborn, or is forced to leave them in child care.
The family leave law is largely self-funding, with no charge to the state’s general fund. It is financed by a payroll tax of 0.2 percent of wages, shared equally by employees and employers. For the average worker, that means about a dollar a week.
Rep. Chris Reykdal is co-sponsoring the House bill to expand and implement the 2007 FMLI law. The bill deserves support, because it strengthens families and the state’s middle-income households.
Our state Legislature is considering how to fund the Family Leave Act of 2007. Opponents of the law, citing costs, are attempting to repeal it.
Their concerns are understandable, but misplaced. Family leave puts family first — where it belongs. And it does so by compensating our businesses’ greatest asset: Washington workers.
Two of the most special times in my life were when my two daughters were born, savoring the miracle of those new lives in our home. As a pediatrician, I know how important the first weeks and months of a baby’s life are for the long run. Children have a good start and better health when parents can be fully engaged with their new child, moms can breastfeed, and the stress of work and family finances doesn’t interfere.
But children aren’t children forever. They grow up to become adults, with jobs and children of their own. Cancer or a car accident can happen to anyone at any time, and the impact on health and family finances is often devastating. Later on in life, grown children often become caregivers for their own parents.
That’s why I believe Washington legislators should quickly adopt the proposed plan to expand and implement family and medical leave insurance.
Family and medical leave insurance would provide a modest income to working people who have to take time off to care for a new baby or seriously ill family member, or for their own serious health condition. The insurance would be self-financed, so it doesn’t compete with other state budget priorities like education. And it won’t be a handout — only working people who play by the rules will be eligible for benefits.
Under the plan, workers and their employers would each contribute premiums of 0.2 percent of pay once the system is fully up and running — that’s about $1.50 per week for the average worker in Walla Walla County. Then when they have a new baby or a health crisis, the worker could draw two-thirds of their usual weekly pay from the fund for up to 12 weeks, limited to a maximum of $1,000 per week.
Family and medical leave insurance is an investment that will pay big returns — for children and their parents, workers and businesses, and our elders.
After more than a decade as a pediatric anesthesiologist and critical care physician, I’ve seen lots of very sick kids. When a child becomes critically ill, the parents’ whole world is turned on end. Moms and dads need to be there for their kids and available to make medical decisions.
The last place those preoccupied parents should be is at work.
Cushioning our workforce from the huge financial setbacks that often accompany a serious medical problem will boost our state’s economy and increase quality of life for working adults, both today and when we retire.
Employers will benefit from family leave insurance, too. Workers can focus on family and health during critical times, and return to work when they are ready to be productive employees again. Their employer won’t be paying their wages, so can hire a temporary replacement if necessary, and still have a valuable trained employee able to return to work.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Children’s social, emotional, and physical health; their developmental trajectory; and the neurocircuits that are being created and reinforced in their developing brains are all directly influenced by their relationships during early childhood.”
Giving all of our children the benefit of a good start to life will help them grow up to be well-adjusted and smart — exactly the type of person I want taking care of me when I am older.
Dr. Robert Smith has practiced as a pediatric anesthesiologist, critical care physician, and pediatric pain specialist. He is currently practicing anesthesia in Walla Walla.
Washington Work and Family Coalition 