Family leave law expansion mulled

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published January 22, 2009

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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 public would approve it.

"All polling shows it will pass," Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, said Wednesday. "It's not rocket science. People need some help balancing work and family, and they don't need to chose between jobs and family."

Federal law allows new parents to take unpaid time off from work. The state Legislature voted in 2007 to give new parents $250 a week for up to five weeks.

Lawmakers could not agree on a way to pay for the benefit, however, and only approved spending $6.1 million on a computer to run the program. Faced with a recession and ballooning state budget shortfall, Gov. Chris Gregoire suspended work on the computer in the fall.

"There wasn't the political will to pay for it with a payroll tax even in good economic times, in 2007," said Kris Tefft of the Association of Washington Businesses.

"Now is not the time to consider a payroll tax, whether its on employers or employees," he said. "The nature of the program is its ultimate costs won't be borne by the worker even if they're taxed for the insurance premium."

Businesses still would be saddled with the administrative paperwork, even as they and their workers grapple with a recession, Tefft said.

In its current form, the 2007 law makes the benefit effective Oct. 1, and lawmakers might have to address the issue one way or another. Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, has introduced a bill to end the program.

But Keiser said a new bill that will be introduced soon will not only revive the program, but expand benefits to those caring for sick parents or other family members. She also said President Barack Obama has been supportive of similar programs, and some federal money might be available to finish Washington's computer system.

If the Legislature approves a payroll tax, it still will be sent to a vote of the people under rules voters approved with Initiative 960 in 2007.

Keiser acknowledged that the family-leave tax would compete with other tax increases that legislators might propose to support programs faced with severe cuts, such as the Basic Health Plan, which is health insurance for the working poor.

"I am concerned. We can't load up (on ballot measures); we have to be smart about what we're doing," she said.