Sen. Kathleen Taylor previews paid-leave, workers' comp and funding proposals ahead of session
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Summary
Sen. Kathleen Taylor told the House Labor committee Jan. 13 the Senate will advance technical fixes to paid family and medical leave administration, higher workers' comp replacement rates for many injured workers, a BOLI study, and a modest worker-benefit surcharge to stabilize agency funding.
Sen. Kathleen Taylor, chair of the Senate Labor and Business Committee, briefed the House interim panel on several Senate concepts the Senate committee plans to advance if session begins as scheduled. Taylor said the measures are largely technical or incremental but could change benefit administration and agency funding.
On LC 2020, Taylor said the concept would allow the director of the Oregon Employment Department to adopt rules to ensure the paid family and medical leave insurance fund complies with new federal tax reporting requirements, and that the measure would not allow the department to change employer or employee contribution rates. “What that means is LC 20 20 would allow the director of the Oregon Employment Department to adopt rules for the paid family and medical leave fund to ensure compliance with new federal tax reporting requirements,” she said.
Taylor said LC 178 would increase workers' compensation temporary and permanent total disability benefit calculations, moving toward higher replacement rates for many injured workers — especially those earning less than $70,000 annually — and that the complicated formulas would be explained with charts at future hearings. She described LC 155 as a placeholder directing BOLI to study worker-protection issues and report before the 2027 session.
Taylor also previewed a personal bill to stabilize BOLI funding by adding an additional one‑tenth‑of‑1% assessment on employers and employees into the worker benefit fund and to raise the prevailing wage cap from 7,500 to 12,500. She estimated the assessment would yield roughly $19,000,000 and said part of the proceeds would be dedicated to prevailing-wage investigations at BOLI to address a rising caseload.
Taylor said there appeared to be bipartisan agreement on many items in her committee but cautioned that session is two weeks away and details could change. The Senate concepts will receive hearings and technical briefings once introduced.
