Committee OKs actuarial study on statewide paid family leave funded by Partnership for School Readiness

Senator Dossett asked the Senate Economic Development, Workforce and Tourism Committee on Thursday to strike the bill's title and substitute the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness as the affected agency for Senate Bill 254, which the committee approved.

Dossett said the Partnership will use existing budget dollars to hire a qualified third party to perform an actuarial study estimating what it would cost the state to implement a statewide paid family leave medical program. "We've got the Partnership for School Readiness, who has the funds available to conduct an actuarial study with a qualified third party," Dossett said. "It'll cost somewhere between $60,000 and $70,000 and, as I stated, the Partnership for School Readiness has already found those dollars in its budget."

Dossett emphasized the study would provide information for future legislative decisions but would not commit the Legislature to creating a paid family leave program. "Whether or not we have a paid family leave program in the state of Oklahoma will still be entirely up to us," Dossett said. "The Legislature must make any future decisions about that."

Committee members raised no substantive objections after questions from Chairwoman Thompson. The committee recorded seven ayes and zero nays on the committee action to pass the bill as amended; the clerk read the roll listing Senators Fricks, Gillespie, Goodwin, Green, Kurt, Vice Chair Coleman and Chairwoman Thompson as voting aye. The chair declared Senate Bill 254 passed by the committee.