Maine lawmakers approve changes to paid leave proposal
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Democratic-led committee voted Thursday to approve a bill creating up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave in Maine after it underwent additional revisions to address concerns from business groups.
It is not clear if all of the changes are enough to persuade Gov. Janet Mills to back the high-profile measure, which is awaiting an updated cost estimate.
The newest tweaks to the bill would include tribal governments under the program, require employees to give “reasonable notice” to their employer of their intent to take paid leave unless it is an “emergency illness,” clarify that job protections for workers at companies of any size would not kick in until 120 days later and clean up some language.
The Legislature’s Labor and Housing Committee voted 8-5 along party lines to recommend the bill’s passage Thursday afternoon.
“The governor appreciates the committee’s work on the legislation, and she looks forward to reviewing the changes they have adopted,” Mills spokesperson Ben Goodman said in an email.
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, and Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, are sponsoring the bill that would cap the maximum 12 weeks of leave payments at the state’s average weekly wage.
Daughtry, without naming Mills, said the additional tweaks to the bill are in response to feedback and concerns she and Cloutier have received.
For example, she said the 120-day waiting period aligns with the state’s current Earned Paid Leave law and respects employers who rely on short-term, seasonal workers.
While an updated cost estimate has not been made available, a preliminary fiscal estimate of the bill before it underwent amendments said it would cost about $67.2 million in fiscal year 2023 and about $6.6 million in fiscal year 2024 to establish and implement the program.
The preliminary estimate also found the amount of benefits paid to eligible employees would total about $162.7 million in fiscal year 2025 and $339.1 million in 2026.
The 1 percent payroll tax split between employees and employers to fund the paid leave program would start in January 2025, while benefits would begin in May 2026.
Daughtry said Thursday the “top end” cost was “something that we would be able to afford.”
Mills, a Democrat, will likely have the final say on the measure that now awaits House and Senate votes in the last month of the session, as nearly all legislators in her majority party support it while nearly all Republicans join various business groups in opposing it.
Amid the uncertainty over whether Mills will back the bill, a coalition of progressive groups has expressed a desire to ask voters to approve a more expansive version of paid leave, including up to 16 weeks, via a referendum.
Thirteen states and Washington, D.C., currently offer some form of paid family and medical leave, with Maine the only state in New England not to do so.
The Daughtry-Cloutier bill is funded through a payroll tax capped at 1 percent of wages and split evenly between employees and employers, except for companies with fewer than 15 workers. An earlier amendment offers job protections to employees at those smaller companies unless their employer applies for an “undue hardship” exemption.
Part-time and full-time workers must contribute over $6,200, or six times the state weekly average wage, to become eligible for paid leave under the amended plan from Daughtry and Cloutier.
A University of New Hampshire poll of Maine earlier this year found majority support for paid leave, although the question did not cover funding.
Daughtry and Cloutier said they have been responsive to feedback from more than 500 individuals and businesses on their bill, also saying it reins in costs of the more expansive versions.
Still, Mills has joined business groups in having some of the same worries about the bill’s cost.
Her deputy chief of staff, Elise Baldacci, outlined the governor’s list of concerns about an earlier version of the bill in May, including a desire to consider decreasing wage replacement to as little as 66 percent, as well as the hardship exemption Mills deemed “too complex to implement.”
Baldacci also argued a referendum would result in “a payroll tax implemented through a blunt policy” that would not be responsive to Mainers and businesses, urging lawmakers to arrive at a solution in the State House, even if it takes until 2024.
“The governor believes that when it comes to complicated public policies like this one there is always middle ground,” Baldacci said last week.
The Daughtry-Cloutier proposal veers in some respects from a commission that previously studied the paid leave issue but also follows it by defining “family” as children, parents, grandchildren, grandparents, siblings or “de facto” versions of those relationships, along with spouses and all others sharing “a significant personal bond” with the Mainer taking leave.
Republicans have also cited cost concerns and said businesses will struggle under it. Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, has argued Maine should follow the lead of New Hampshire, which blends family medical leave insurance with business tax credits.
Sen. Matt Pouliot questioned whether a Health Savings Account-type program would work better, arguing the bill puts employers “in a really difficult spot…to be able to stay open and survive.”
But Daughtry reiterated a vast amount of time, listening and studies have been part of the process to craft the bill.
“This bill is not just well intentioned,” Daughtry said. “It is well researched.”