A liberal advocacy group lobbying for a paid household go away profit in Maine has determined to forgo placing the difficulty on the November poll – regardless of amassing greater than 80,000 petition signatures to get a referendum earlier than voters – as a result of the Legislature is working to cross a household go away profit.
A fee made up of lawmakers and consultants – together with Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick – is crafting a proposal that can go earlier than lawmakers this spring. The fee’s suggestions will probably be launched throughout the subsequent two weeks.
Daughtry, in a telephone interview Friday evening, mentioned she is “assured” the Legislature will approve paid household go away this yr. Democrats maintain the trifecta in state authorities, with Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Democrats controlling majorities within the Senate and Home.
“We’re at a pivotal level,” mentioned Daughtry, assistant majority chief within the Maine Senate. “That is my No. 1 precedence this yr, legislatively. It’s the No. 1 transformational coverage we as a state can undertake.”
Household go away, if enacted, would permit most Maine individuals to take paid day off work for all times occasions such because the start of a kid or caring for an aged or sick relative.
Leaders of the Maine Folks’s Alliance say if a invoice stalls out within the Legislature, the 80,000 signatures can nonetheless be submitted to the state this summer time, and the measure would as an alternative go earlier than voters in November 2024. The MPA and Maine Ladies’s Foyer gathered greater than 50,000 signatures for a poll initiative on Election Day final yr. The signatures must be submitted to the Maine Division of the Secretary of State this month for the referendum to go earlier than voters this November.
Amy Halsted, co-director of the MPA, mentioned with “momentum constructing” the group is “targeted proper now on working to win a robust Paid Household and Medical Depart coverage within the Legislature this yr.”
Whereas particulars are nonetheless being labored out – and the Legislature doesn’t must comply with the fee’s suggestions – Daughtry mentioned the fee is aiming for a 12-week profit, which in some circumstances may very well be prolonged to 16 weeks.
Daughtry mentioned the fee’s proposal is not going to suggest a selected payroll tax or profit however would inform lawmakers of what fashions they might select from to create a more- or less-robust program.
However usually, the best way paid household go away works is that employers and workers contribute to a tax that may generate income for this system. Primarily based on the fashions of different states and the MPA proposal, usually workers would obtain 80% to 90% of pay whereas taking go away, and the payroll tax can be 0.75% to 1.25% of revenue.
Employers with 15 or fewer workers can be exempt, however the self-employed can be eligible for this system.
“This can permit the legislature to see this system prices and advantages, and the way it all works,” Daughtry mentioned. Mills has not dedicated to a selected proposal, however she was in favor of forming the fee and supported a further $300,000 generally fund cash so an actuarial evaluation of the proposal may very well be carried out.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia have some type of obligatory paid household go away, together with Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in New England. California was the primary state to approve it, in 2004. Within the Nineteen Nineties, the federal authorities permitted a household go away profit that permits workers to take as much as 12 weeks off with out dropping their jobs, nevertheless it’s unpaid.
Earlier efforts in Maine stalled out, most not too long ago in 2019. It’s unclear how many individuals can be instantly eligible, however it will have an effect on 1000’s. As an illustration, about 12,000 infants are born in Maine yearly.
Daughtry mentioned the difficulty is “deeply private” to her, each because the proprietor of a small enterprise, Moderation Brewing in Brunswick, and since she needs to have youngsters at some point. Daughtry mentioned she has seen workers must give up jobs at Moderation as a result of there was no paid household go away profit. Daughtry mentioned that regardless that her enterprise – with 4 workers – can be exempt, she would nonetheless enroll the brewery in this system in order that workers would have entry to the profit.
“That is one thing I’ve cared about for years,” Daughtry mentioned. “I’ve personally seen how a lot of an enormous deal that is.”
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