Holmquist-Newbry leads cutting leave program

OLYMPIA - In May 2007 Washington state initiated the family

leave insurance program.

The program would help employees caring for newborns by paying them

$250 per week, for up to five weeks.

OLYMPIA - In May 2007 Washington state initiated the family leave insurance program.

The program would help employees caring for newborns by paying them $250 per week, for up to five weeks.

The paid family leave program was supposed to take effect in October 2009, but has since been extended by three years due to state budget shortfalls.

The new effective date is October 2012.

The paid family leave program currently does not have an agency dedicated to fund the program.

Rep. Janea Holmquist-Newbry, R-Moses Lake, along with four other senators, proposes Senate Bill 5276, a bill repealing the extension, thereby cutting the program from the books once and for all.

"Let's end it, don't extend it," Holmquist-Newbry stated. "We need to repeal this program as part of our effort to get the state's fiscal house in order."

The representative stated she believed the program misleads the public to believe it can be funded soon.

"Why leave this financial obligation on the books with no way to meet it?" said Holmquist-Newbry. "If we cannot afford to pay for this program out of the general fund, then we shouldn't have the program in law."

Holmquist-Newbry stated the program was "adopted before it was thoroughly vetted."

"The 2007 family leave entitlement experiment was rushed through the Legislature ... left most of the implementation questions unanswered. There was no plan; the Democrats promised benefits to workers, but did not know how to pay for the program, how to administer the program, or how to run it efficiently," she stated.

Senate Bill 5276 received its first reading in the Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protecting committee on Jan. 19.

On the other hand, Rep. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, presented a piece of legislation that would indefinitely extend the implementation of the family leave insurance program until the Office of Financial Management determined there was enough money to fund the program.

Senate Bill 5091 is currently being heard in the Rules committee for a second reading of the extension bill.

When Legislature passed the paid family leave program, Washington state became the second state in the nation to have such a law.

California and New Jersey have a paid family leave program, according to Nolo.com, a law resource Web site.