california « Washington Policy Watch

February 2, 2010 • 11:03 am 0

New report details positive effects of paid family leave

Newborn Family Leave: Effects on Business, Parents, and Children
Full Report | Executive Summary

The arrival of a new baby changes the world for parents, often bringing familial and work responsibilities into conflict. While some employers provide parents of newborns with the option to take time off of work to care for a new child, many do not. For some parents, a period of unpaid leave is provided through the federal Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).

Five years ago, recognizing the importance of leave for families and children, California lawmakers passed the Paid Family Leave Act, which provides employees thirty days of paid leave to care for a new child, a seriously ill family member, or their own serious illness. While very modest compared to policies in other developed countries, California’s Paid Family Leave program was the first of its kind in the nation, and remains the most generous.

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Filed under: work and family, california, children, economic security, family, income, middle class, paid family leave, public policy, united states

August 12, 2009 • 9:40 am 1

If you like California’s budget crisis, you’ll love Washington’s Initiative 1033

California’s budget-by-initiative process has helped decimate the state’s public transportation, education, health care…you name it. And while Washington’s budget problems aren’t as bad as California’s, if Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 passes this fall, we’ll know what it’s like to live in the Golden State without even moving across state lines.

Just take a look at what’s happening to higher education down south. The Economist reports Californians are “justifiably proud” of having “the best public higher education in the world” at the Berkeley campus of the University of California. But state cuts mean those days of glory may be at an end. At the other end of the educational spectrum, the Seattle Times notes California’s younger students will be using history textbooks that “won’t mention the election of President Obama or the subprime mortgage meltdown until at least 2016. Stem-cell research and climate change could be absent from science texts even longer.”

Washington is poised to walk down the same path with I-1033, which would drastically limit what our state and our communities can spend to promote economic growth, build our education system, and ensure quality of life.

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Filed under: education, state economy, tax and budget, budget, business, california, deficit, economic security, economy, politics, public policy, revenue, taxes, washington state

June 17, 2009 • 1:44 pm 0

Why do deficit hawks suddenly appear, every time Obama is near?

It’s been about eight years since we’ve heard the “deficit hawks” sing their song – but it’s an easy one to remember because the tune is always the same. Funny how it’s always sung loudest when the conversation turns to investments in improved health, education or infrastructure.

So says Robert Reich in The Great Debt Scare is back, in response to New York Times article predicting a sea of red ink in federal finances. The bottom line, as David Fiderer writes, the Obama administration has inherited a situation in which future deficits will dwarf all those prior to 2009.

Most states don’t have the option of deficit spending — and with the worst recession in generations now gripping the country, they’re grappling with steep declines in tax receipts. Faced with massive cuts to K-12 education, public universities, health programs, and other vital public structures, elected leaders are looking for new revenue to balance the books.

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Filed under: education, health care, state economy, tax and budget, budget, california, deficit, economic security, economy, health, health care, higher education, income, inequality, middle class, oregon, politics, poverty, public policy, revenue, stimulus, taxes, united states, washington state

May 18, 2009 • 2:49 pm 0

National paid sick days legislation off and running. Plus: Mapping economic stress, looking for state revenue fixes, college brains drain to Canada, and women’s retirement insecurity

In the news:

National legislation to guarantee American workers paid sick days was introduced today by Congressional Democrats.

The Associated Press has a spiffy — and let’s face it, a little bit depressing — interactive map of economic stress based on foreclosure, bankruptcy and unemployment data for every county in the U.S.

Schumdget continues its ongoing series on Washington’s budget crisis with a look at how a projected $1.2 billion revenue shortfall quadrupled in six months.

Voters in California are considering a complicated ballot proposition to cap state spending, but the L.A. Times reports such policies are no silver bullet.

As tuition costs rise south of the 49th parallel, some families are looking north to Canadian universities.

Women workers are less likely than men to have enough money to retire comfortably because they generally live longer than men and earn less on the job, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security. That risk can be reduced with the combination of a traditional pension, supplemental 401(k)-type individual savings, and Social Security.

Filed under: education, retirement security, state economy, tax and budget, work and family, budget, california, deficit, economy, family, paid sick days, pension, politics, public policy, retirement, revenue, social security, taxes, united states, washington state, women, work

Washington Policy Watch

New report details positive effects of paid family leave

If you like California’s budget crisis, you’ll love Washington’s Initiative 1033

Why do deficit hawks suddenly appear, every time Obama is near?

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