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Committee advances expanded parental leave for state employees, including coverage for stillbirth
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Summary
The committee approved a merged parental-leave package that extends paid parental leave to include stillbirth and consolidates prior bills to provide 12 weeks of paid leave for state employees; members asked stakeholders to study classroom staffing and instruction impacts.
Representative Cobb Hunter described a merged parental-leave package that combines prior bills to provide 12 weeks (noted in testimony as the equivalent of 60 days of instruction time) of paid parental leave for eligible state employees and to explicitly include stillbirths in the eligibility criteria.
Cobb Hunter said stakeholders raised concerns during testimony about classroom instruction time if teachers take 12 weeks of leave; she said stakeholders agreed to continue discussions and the bill sponsor did not want to hold the measure up while those talks proceed. After no amendments or further questions, the clerk recorded the roll-call and the committee gave House Bill 4611 a favorable report (tally recorded as 20-2-0).
The committee noted that school-district staffing and instructional continuity will require follow-up conversations with education stakeholders before implementation details are finalized.
