AUSTIN, Texas — Democrats are challenging an anti-abortion, pro-family, Texas legislature to adopt a statewide family leave policy that would give all new parents up to 12 weeks off from work for a birth or adoption.
Rep. Penny Morales Shaw, D-Houston, was joined by several colleagues on Wednesday morning when she announced the Texas Family Act. Shaw has filed the bill in the House as House Bill 2604 and by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, in the Senate as Senate Bill 1079.
Shaw said she chose a measure she knew her Republican colleagues could get behind, one that would align with family values and would provide more certainty for those wanting to start families.
“The notion of paid parental leave isn’t anything new. We have employers across Texas that have already realized the importance of support employees and the benefits of retention, longevity and decreased turnover,” Shaw said in a Wednesday morning news conference. “Now we have, as state legislators, an opportunity where we can ensure that every employee can count on starting and growing a family with the confidence that they can continue to pay their bills, and they can have a job to return to after they welcome their child.”
Some companies do support paid parental leave programs, which Shaw praised. But three out of four employees in Texas have no access to any form of paid leave, and 62% have access to only unpaid leave, senior analyst Amanda Posson of Every Texan, a liberal-leaning advocacy group, told reporters.
Most daycare settings refuse to take children younger than six weeks old. Workers who do have to leave their job to care for newborns lose an average of $3,000 in wages, Posson said. Every Texan estimates a parental leave program could provide benefits to 144,000 households each year.
“This is monumental. This is a critical workforce retention tool that we need to implement in Texas if we’re going to continue to have a strong economy,” Posson said. “Rep. Shaw is putting something forth that meets the needs of our hardworking families and is pragmatic, smart, the right thing to do and consistent with our values in the state.”
The cost of paid parental leave would come from an employer contribution of .15% of each employee’s income. For hourly workers who make less than $15 an hour in wages, leave would be equivalent to a fully salary, according to the bill. Those who make more would be entitled to 80% of their weekly salary or $1000 per week, whichever is lesser.
The fund would be administered through the Texas Workforce Commission.
Unpaid time off is available to Texas employees through the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said. And, as of this session, Speaker Dade Phelan added paid parental leave to the benefits of those who work in the House of Representatives.
“This remarkable policy will help many of our staffers and employees in this building have the time off to enjoy their new role as parents without sacrificing their economic stability,” Howard said. She added that unpaid leave disproportionately affected black and brown families. “This is especially concerning, focused on the health care of women in this state because maternal mortality among black women is three times higher than their white counterparts.”
The need to return to work early is both a family challenge and a health care risk because “it interferes with the rest and medical care recommended by doctors for these new mothers,” Howard said.
Shaw’s bill is limited to family leave and does not include other types of paid medical leave. As of last June, a handful of states had implemented family and medical leave laws, mostly in the Northeast, as well as California, Oregon and Washington states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That would include paid and unpaid options.