Two paid family leave bills have been introduced so far this session: SB 5032 (and the identical HB 1116) and SB 5149. Lens has a good story on the issue.

In the tables below, I compare these bills with the paid family leave program that was enacted in 2007 (but never implemented) and with HB 1273 (introduced in 2015 but not enacted).

In the table below, “AWW” stands for “average weekly wage.” The state average weekly wage is calculated annually and is used to determine things like unemployment benefits and taxes. In July 2016, the Employment Security Department announced that the 2015 state AWW was $1,082.

One reason the 2007 law was never implemented is that the Legislature did not name a funding mechanism, as we discussed in this report. The funding aspects of the bills are shown below. The premium amount in SB 5032/HB1116 is a bit technical. Say you happen to make $1,082. Under these bills, the premium would be $2.76 per week at the start, then $5.52 per week in CY 2020.

We also discussed paid family leave in this report last year. Additionally, in November, the governor’s office released research on paid family leave that included a voter survey, a cost analysis, and employer interviews. I summarized the results here; note that they do not contemplate anything as generous as SB 5032/HB1116.

Update: Click on the tables to see larger versions. Also, I've uploaded the spreadsheet with all the information in one place: paid_family_leave.out_.xlsx