Overcoming significant opposition from business groups, a bill expanding California’s unpaid family leave policy squeaked through the Legislature on Friday.
Current law entitles workers at companies with at least 50 employees to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a sick parent, child or spouse. Senate Bill 406, by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, would add siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, domestic partners and parents-in-law to the list of family members.
SB 406 was a major target for the California Chamber of Commerce, which placed the measure on its influential annual list of “job killer” legislation. Though it passed the Senate in June, the bill faced stiff resistance from business-friendly Republicans and moderate Democrats in the Assembly, where it was amended last week to drop a provision that would have added businesses with more than 25 employees to the policy.
The proposal still struggled Friday, where it survived the Assembly on a razor-thin 41-29 margin. Jackson and fellow Democrats walked the floor trying to drum up votes as it initially stalled short of passage.
View Article