"Sandwich Mom" takes on the Oregon legislature & gets on front page of the Business section. Here's a great picture (Sandwich Mom is very photogenic!) and terrific article > in The Oregonian newspaper today:

Proponents of paid family leave seek support in Oregon Legislature

by Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian
Wednesday April 08, 2009, 7:14 PM

Supporters of a bill to provide paid family leave gather Wednesday at the Capitol in Salem before a hearing on the legislation. Katie Bethel (center, near lectern) of MomsRising.org spoke at a news conference with her mother, Sally Longcor, dressed as a sandwich. MomsRising.org advocates "bread makers and bread winners."

SALEM -- Supporters of paid leave for workers to care for newborns or ill family members launched a new attempt Wednesday to persuade the Oregon Legislature to become the third state to adopt such a program.

Legislators came close to approving a similar bill two years ago, and supporters are optimistic they can win passage this year despite continued opposition from business groups.

Backers packed a committee hearing on the bill and have rounded up a range of sponsors, including AARP and organized labor.

Paid family leave

• What: Senate Bill 966
• The benefit: Workers taking time off to care for a newborn or a sick family member could receive up to six weeks of paid family leave. Full-timers in firms with at least 25 employees would receive $300 a week. Part-timers would get a prorated amount. Employers with fewer than 25 employees could elect to participate.
• The tax: The benefit would be financed by a 2-cent-per-hour levy on employees' paychecks.
• When: If approved, the tax would begin Jan. 1, 2011. Workers would be eligible for benefits Jan. 1, 2012.
•What's next? The committee will schedule a work session on the bill. If the committee approves it, Senate and House passage and the governor's signature would be required to make the bill law.

Sen. Diane Rosenbaum, D-Portland, the chief sponsor of Senate Bill 966, said many workers are unable to take advantage of current leave laws because they can't afford to go without pay for any length of time.

No matter your situation, Rosenbaum said before chairing a hearing on the bill, "somebody in your family is eventually going to need you there at their bedside."

Under the legislation, those working in firms with at least 25 employees would be assessed 2 cents an hour for a state fund that would provide a weekly benefit of $300 for up to six weeks for full-time workers on family leave. Part-time workers would get a prorated amount, and smaller employers could opt in if they chose.

J.L. Wilson, a lobbyist for Associated Oregon Industries, called the proposal "well-intentioned" but questioned whether the 2-cents-an-hour tax would be enough to provide the benefits.

"We believe the future demands of the program can only be funded through increased taxes on workers or new taxes on business," he said in prepared testimony to the Senate Commerce and Workforce Development Committee.

Wilson noted that Washington state, which passed a paid leave program in 2007, has suspended its implementation because administrative costs threatened to eat up more than a third of the employee-paid taxes for the program.

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said his agency has learned from Washington's mistakes and is confident it can run the program for much less. He said his agency estimates that it would cost about $5.5 million in the two-year budget cycle to run the program, which would raise about $60 million in the same period.

Although paid family leave programs are common in many parts of the world, California was the first state to adopt a paid leave program in 2004. New Jersey approved a program, scheduled to start this year. President Barack Obama campaigned to give states financial incentives to pass paid leave laws.

If the Oregon bill is approved, it would not start until 2012 to give officials time to raise money for the benefits and to establish an administrative structure.

Testimony on the bill mirrored the debate that accompanied the passage of Oregon's first family leave law in 1988 and its later expansion to cover a wider variety of medical and parenting needs. A federal leave law was passed in 1993 but is not as broad as Oregon's law.

Supporters argued that leave programs help strengthen families and improve employee morale and have a minimal negative impact on business. They also noted that an increasing number of workers care for aging parents and struggle with how to afford to do so.

Paid leave "could have been the crucial bridge for us" after the birth of a son with medical problems drove her family into bankruptcy, said Teresa Weis of Portland at a news conference before the hearing.

Christina Martin of the Cascade Policy Institute said the paid leave program would unfairly tax many workers who would receive little benefit from it. "Single individuals would end up paying for couples to have children."

-- Jeff Mapes: 503-221-8209; jeffmapes@news.oregonian.com