A bill to explore future expansions to the Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) program is set for a public hearing this week in the House.

As you may recall, SB 5097 originally sought to expand eligibility for the PFML program, expand the program’s job protection provisions to small employers, and require continued medical benefits coverage for employees on leave beyond the current requirements. However, the bill was amended before passing the Senate. It now only contains a broadened definition of “family member” and requires the Employment Security Department (ESD) and the PFML advisory committee to study several data points on the program and report to the Legislature. The study is to include information on PFML program utilization, lengths of leave, reasons for leave, and demographic information on employees taking leave. We wrote about the changes made to the bill here.

The bill is scheduled in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on Tuesday, March 16, and has also already been scheduled for a committee vote later in the week.

AWC is neutral on the current version of SB 5097. We opposed the original version because of the potential for both increased costs to employers and undermining the stability of the PFML fund. Those provisions have since been removed by the Senate. However, the structure of the studies in the current bill could help to justify future efforts to expand the PFML job protections to more employers as soon as next session (2022) and additional eligibility expansions to the program in future sessions.

House bill on Paid Family & Medical Leave heard in Senate

A related House bill, HB 1073, which temporarily authorizes alternative eligibility criteria to allow more workers access to the PFML program during the COVID-19 pandemic, also received a hearing last week in the Senate Labor, Commerce, & Tribal Affairs Committee.

Proponents emphasized the importance of the program to working families: the bill would allow working families that don’t currently qualify for PFML because of COVID-related job losses or hours reductions in 2020 to access the program. On the employer side, the Association of Washington Business testified as “other,” saying it had backed off its initial opposition because of substantial changes made to limit the bill to COVID-19 response, but still had concerns about the costs to the PFML program and the ESD. Committee members also discussed the possibility of using newly approved federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to pay for the costs associated with the bill’s PFML expansion.

AWC is currently neutral on HB 1073, following changes made in the House that limited the bill to COVID-19 response.

Dates to remember

SB 5097 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on March 16 at 10 am. The bill is also scheduled for a committee vote on March 19 at 8 am.

HB 1073 is scheduled for a committee vote in the Senate Labor, Commerce, & Tribal Affairs Committee on March 17 at 10:30 am.