California takes steps to mat leave

Proposal would create most generous funding policy in the country

The United States has long been the only industrialized country not to offer paid leave to new parents. Instead of waiting for the federal government, the incoming governor of California intends to change that in a significant way for families in his state. He is expected to introduce a proposal to give families six months of paid leave after the birth of a child.

What is unclear is how California would pay for it.

The proposal, which Gov.elect Gavin Newsom is expected to include with his budget after he is sworn in Monday, would be the most generous state policy in the nation, at a time when federal paid leave proposals have stalled. Yet it does not include a plan to finance it, and there is no guarantee that the Legislature would approve raising the money.

It is the same challenge that has stymied the policy at the federal level.

Around 80 per cent of Americans consistently say they support paid parental leave, and some Republican lawmakers have joined Democrats in embracing the idea. Yet federal lawmakers have declined to pass tax increases or corporate mandates to make it a reality.

California’s proposal continues an effort by governors to pass laws on the issue while Congress is gridlocked. Massachusetts, Washington and New Jersey recently passed or expanded paid family leave policies.

Advocates say Oregon, Colorado and Connecticut are poised to do so, too. In competitive races in the recent midterm elections, 29 per cent of candidates for Congress and governor included paid leave in their platforms, up from 4 per cent four years earlier, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.