María Elena Durazo, a Democratic senator from Los Angeles, is renewing the fight for equitable paid family leave, hoping to make it a realistic option for more low-income Californians.
After Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar bill last fall that would have increased wage replacement pay for the lowest paid workers, Durazo introduced Senate Bill 951 in February which would phase in increases in the percentage of the earnings low-wage workers receive while out on family leave, so three years from now a worker would receive up to 90% of their pay.
This week her bill passed out of committee with a three-quarters majority after a hearing. It was one of three bills she presented designed to bolster protections for low-income workers; the trio of measures is headed to the appropriations committee.
California became the first state in the nation to implement paid family leave in 2002. Nearly every private sector worker pays a 1.1% tax from each paycheck, which goes toward State Disability Insurance, which pays for paid family leave and disability insurance.
Although everybody pays in, not everybody uses it.
A recent analysis from the California Budget & Policy Center shows the program is still a far reach for most low-income workers. Data from 2020 reveal that California’s workers who earned $20,000 or less a year made up 37% of all workers eligible...
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