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Senator moves to limit adoption-related paid leave to children under 5; committee holds amendment
Summary
Senator Stedman moved a conceptual amendment to HB 192 that would limit paid parental leave for adoptive parents to children younger than 5; the committee asked for data on how many adoptions would be affected and held the amendment for a future session.
During the meeting’s second half, Senator Stedman moved Conceptual Amendment No. 1 to House Bill 192, which would insert text limiting adoption-related leave provisions so that the special adoption leave applies only to adoptions of children younger than 5 years of age.
Senator Stedman said the amendment targets the child-age threshold in three places in the bill’s draft language. Senator Merrick asked for a count to estimate how many adoptions per year would fall into the 5–17 age range and how much money the amendment would save. Sponsor staff (Joan Wilkerson) said they did not have a figure at the hearing but would provide one.
Committee members asked members to consider non‑financial impacts as well, including older adopted children who may have experienced trauma. The chair said the committee would hold the amendment until it could receive the requested data and cost estimate and planned to continue consideration at a later session.
Why it matters: The amendment would narrow eligibility for adoption-related paid parental leave and could change the program’s fiscal cost. The committee deferred action until staff can provide the number of affected adoptions and a rough fiscal estimate.
Next steps: Sponsor staff to supply counts and a fiscal estimate; the committee will resume consideration when those numbers are available.
