Senate rejects unpaid family leave extension

The Oklahoma Senate has rejected a measure that would give some parents more time to spend with their newborn or adopted children.

Senate Bill 549 would have pushed state employees’ pregnancy and adoption leave allowance past the federal 12-week minimum. State Sen. David Holt, the bill’s author, said he wants to give a mother and father at least 20 weeks of time to spend with their child. The bill wouldn’t apply to parents working for private businesses.

Holt presented the bill on the Senate floor Wednesday, but it failed in a 20-to-22 vote. Bills in the Senate need 25 votes to pass.

“The bill didn’t receive any questions or debate, and then it failed,” said Holt, R-Oklahoma City. “As I was walking around during the vote trying to

desperately get enough votes to bring it up to 25, I found that people had a very outdated view of current employment practices. I think we’re just going to have to educate them over the next few days.”

Holt can bring the bill up again for another vote next week. It was one of two he had scheduled to hear on the issue, but he pulled the other from consideration. That measure, Senate Bill 550, would let any state worker receive the extra leave instead of just longterm employees.

Private business practices are shifting, he said, and companies are beginning to offer more time off after having a baby.

“As an employer, the state of Oklahoma is competing with all the other employers in the state,” Holt said. “If standards are changing, we have to change with them if we expect to have people want to go into a life of public service.”

State Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa, was one of 22 senators who voted against the measure. He said Thursday that he thought the bill affected employees of private businesses, and that he didn’t know the bill only extended leave time for state employees.

Newberry also had another reason to vote against the bill: President Donald Trump and his policy changes on the federal level.

“Until we have a better understanding of what the laws will be, I don’t want to change ours,” Newberry said.

Holt said he’s heard from members of the public who asked why his bill only offered unpaid leave instead of paid time off.

“We didn’t think we could pass paid, and it turns out we can’t pass unpaid,” Holt quipped Thursday. “I’m with you, but we can’t get there if we can’t even pass unpaid leave.”

He said that offering unpaid leave, which would have no demonstrable effect on the state budget, would be more palatable in a year when lawmakers are scrambling to fill a massive budget shortfall.