STATE TREASURERS CALL ON CONGRESS TO PASS PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader McConnell, and Leader Schumer,

We are requesting the passage of permanent and comprehensive paid family leave and medical leave as proposed in President Biden’s American Families Plan.

We are concerned that the lack of a federal paid family and medical leave program leaves many hundreds of thousands of working people across the country without adequate access to care for themselves or their family members, leaving them to face an impossible choice between working and potentially spreading COVID-19 or the next pandemic. Only 9 states, and the District of Columbia, have paid leave programs in place, which leaves the overwhelming majority of states’ finances and investments vulnerable to potential investment losses and operational risks. As we recover from COVID-19 and prepare for the next pandemic, it is clear that a federal public policy solution for paid leave is necessary to help employers weather the pandemic storm, and for an eventual economic recovery.

There is broad support from the business community for paid leave. Both the US Chamber of Commerce and The Business Roundtable have voiced support for a public policy solution on paid leave, and a recently released report from PL+US (Paid Leave for the US) and Promundo, in collaboration with the Parental Leave Corporate Task Force, found that over 75 percent of companies said that a national paid leave policy would help them be better positioned to weather public health emergencies and economic crises. In the past few weeks, more than 250 companies have signed on to support a comprehensive paid family and medical leave policy for the nation’s economic recovery.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world, and the only high-income country, that does not have a national paid leave public policy in place. The absence of adequate paid family and medical leave creates tremendous risks, especially in this new context.

Paid leave provisions were included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) but expired at the end of 2020.  Congress passed the American Rescue Package in March 2021, which does not extend the requirement for employers to provide emergency paid family leave, instead allowing employers to claim tax credits for voluntarily provided emergency paid leave that is provided through September 31, 2021. While the pandemic exposed a health, economic and caregiving emergency that was addressed with FFCRA, we must build back more equitably to address the long term, chronic care crisis that has been simmering for generations.

While a patchwork of paid leave policies exist across various states and municipalities, the lack of consistent federal policies creates added risks and uncertainties. In the US, the pandemic has exposed the gaps in our social safety net and highlighted long-standing gender inequities at work and at home. While some employers in the private sector continue to expand access to paid leave policies, it is critical that employers have one standard through national public policy.

In doing so, the government not only secures a baseline of economic security for working families, but it also supports businesses by standardizing policy, reducing costs, and building resilience to weather future economic or public health crises.

We look forward to learning how we can partner with you to enact policies that can help us build back better in our road to recovery.

Sincerely,

Henry E. M. Beck
Maine State Treasurer

Zach Conine
Nevada State Treasurer

Colleen C. Davis
Delaware State Treasurer

Tim Eichenberg
New Mexico State Treasurer

Michael L. Fitzgerald
Iowa State Treasurer

Michael W. Frerichs
Illinois State Treasurer

Sarah A. Godlewski
Wisconsin State Treasurer

Deborah B. Goldberg
Massachusetts State Treasurer

Nancy K. Kopp
Maryland State Treasurer

Fiona Ma
California State Treasurer

Seth Magaziner
Rhode Island State Treasurer

Beth Pearce
Vermont State Treasurer

Michael J. Pellicciotti
Washington State Treasurer

Tobias Read
Oregon State Treasurer

Lynn W. Rogers
Kansas State Treasurer

Shawn T. Wooden
Connecticut State Treasurer

David L. Young
Colorado State Treasurer