Washington Policy Watch

A few corrections and clarifications to the January 28th op-ed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Carl Gipson of the Washington Policy Center:

1) “The committee failed to find a funding mechanism, even though benefits kick in Oct. 1, 2009.”

The Joint Legislative Task Force on Family Leave recommended using the state general fund for start-up and initial benefits (four years) of family leave insurance. Governor Gregoire has included that funding in her supplemental budget this year.

2) “During the task force hearings it became clear that none of the state agencies considered thought it could set up and implement the program in the timeline stipulated by the legislation.”

At a House Labor and Commerce hearing on January 18th, the Employment Security Department (recommended by the task force to administer the program) stated that it can be ready to administer family leave benefits in time, and that it is already taking initial steps to do so.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: work and family, business, family, paid family leave, public policy, washington state, work

New Jersey Star columnist Thurman Hart takes good aim at specious arguments used by some opponents of family leave in his state, and he challenges those who disagree with him to back up their own points with facts instead of ideological opinions.

With family leave insurance now the law in Washington, all families can look forward to the benefits scheduled to begin in October 2009. But with key administrative and budgetary decisions about the program still to be made, it will be interesting to see whether opponents of family leave will try to recycle their arguments this time around.

Filed under: work and family, business, family, paid family leave, public policy, washington state, work