A legislative panel endorsed a new paid family and medical leave program Thursday, but questions about the cost led Republicans to vote against it.
The Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee voted 8-5 on LD 1964, with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposed. The bill will now go to the full House and Senate for consideration.
The bill advanced Thursday seeks to create a new program that would require Maine employers with more than 15 employees to participate in a paid family and medical leave program.
Sponsored by Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) and Rep. Kristen Cloutier (D-Lewiston), the bill calls for up to a 1% payroll tax on wages split between employers and employees.
As proposed, contributions to the program would begin on Jan. 1, 2025, with claims considered beginning in May 2026.
The program would allow workers to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn, a family member with a serious health condition, a foster child or a short list of other reasons.
The benefit amount would be 90% of the worker’s average weekly wage for those who make 50% or less than the state average weekly wage. For those who earn more, the benefit would be 66% of the weekly wage, according to a revised version of the bill.
Fourteen states have paid family leave programs, but their designs vary state by state.
Business groups in Maine oppose the bill, saying it comes during a workforce shortage and at a time when companies cannot afford a new mandate.
The committee vote comes just weeks before advocates behind a citizen petition drive say they could turn in signatures to call for a public vote on a similar plan in 2024. Absent legislative action by the end of the month, groups such as the Maine Women’s Lobby say they are ready to go to the ballot box.
“This is the moment we create strong families,” Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland) said. “If you don’t support this bill, then the hypocrisy frankly takes my breath away.”
Republicans on the panel grilled Daughtry on the program’s cost and what impacts it would have on state government, schools, municipalities and small businesses.
In terms of new positions in state government, the Maine Department of Labor estimates that it will need to create 20 new jobs in the first two years of the program at a cost of $25 million.
Other cost estimates were not available before the vote. It’s anticipated that the state will ask for private companies to bid on a contract to administer the program.
That lack of hard financial data led Rep Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) to vote against the bill.
“It would be irresponsible of me to vote for something without knowing and understanding the fiscal impact of it, particularly when it has to do with our businesses,” he said. “They are the lifeblood of our state.”
Sen. Matt Pouliot (R-Augusta) said he supports the idea of giving new parents time to care for and bond with their children.
But he questioned whether small businesses can absorb another added cost, particularly in a state where minimum wage increases are tied the cost of living.
“Now we’re on a pathway that’s just not sustainable for small businesses,” he said. “The challenge is we have a lot of small businesses, under 100 people, that are really facing more adverse challenges with the policy decisions we’re making than the bigger companies.”
Daughtry said she’s spent 11 years researching what will work in Maine.
“What’s here is what is best for the state and our employees, not what’s popular at the ballot box,” she said. “Programs like this get people back to work. A program like this incentivizes people to know that if the worst happens, they don’t have to decide between taking care of themselves or their loved one and being able to keep the lights on.”