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Senate subcommittee narrows paid-family-leave definition to include time‑limited full‑time state employees
Summary
The subcommittee adopted an amendment to S.11 to expand the definition of eligible state employee under the Paid Parental Leave Act to include full‑time, time‑limited state employees and set an October 1, 2025 effective date; the bill received a favorable report as amended and will go to the full committee.
Senate Finance Committee sales and income tax subcommittee Chair and staff heard explanation and debate on S.11, a bill to amend the Paid Parental Leave Act’s definition of an eligible state employee so certain time‑limited full‑time state workers qualify for paid family leave.
The change would treat employees who are full‑time and accrue leave but occupy time‑limited positions as eligible for the leave benefit. Grant, a committee staff presenter, said the amendment clarifies that eligible employees “are full time employees” and explained the statute currently defines eligible state employees in terms of FTE percentages.
The clarification matters because, Grant said, some employees who work full time in time‑limited positions accrued leave and benefits but were excluded under the technical FTE definition. The amendment replaced the bill’s original wording with language covering “a person employed by any department, institution, commission, board, or other unit of government who occupy a position eligible to earn annual leave,” which sponsors said better targets employees who actually accrue leave and benefits.
Connelly Ann Ragley of the Department of Social Services told the subcommittee the change would affect a small share of her agency’s workforce: “we have 31 employees as of the last statistical report at the Department of Social Services out of our 4,600 employees that don't qualify for this.” Ragley said the inclusion would help recruitment and retention.
Chase Bailey, a full‑time statistical and research analyst at the Children’s Law Center speaking in a personal capacity, described how broader access to paid parental leave helped his family after his wife’s C‑section and urged the subcommittee to approve the amendment to “help make paid parental leave accessible to more families.”
The subcommittee adopted the amendment by voice vote and later moved a favorable report for S.11 as amended to the full Finance Committee. No roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript; the committee chair announced, “The ayes have it. We'll move that bill forward to the full committee.”
The bill, as amended, also changes the bill’s effective date from immediate gubernatorial approval to October 1, 2025, to give state human resources time to implement system changes identified by state HR staff.
Votes at a glance: The subcommittee adopted the amendment (voice vote) and gave S.11 a favorable report as amended to the full committee (voice vote).
