Council’s Leadership Helping Expand Paid Family Leave

Legislation (SB 1383, Jackson) the Bay Area Council was instrumental in drafting to expand paid family leave (PFL) to more workers appeared on track to win passage this week, just one day after another bill the Council sponsored (SB 83) took effect extending the number of weeks workers can take PFL from six to eight weeks. The expected approval of SB 1383 comes after an intensive advocacy effort the Council mounted that included the release of a seminal Bay Area Council Economic Institute report on the benefits of PFL for workers, employers and the economy.

Council Senior Vice President Matt Regan served on Gov. Newsom’s PFL Task Force, whose findings helped in the drafting of SB 1383. The Council has long been an advocate of expanding PFL and fixing inequities in the current system that prevent many lower-income workers from accessing the benefits they pay for. A 2018 Economic Institute report – Workplace Connections – examined the importance of family-friendly workplace polices like PFL, along with investments in early childhood education and childcare, in advancing gender equity goals. To engage in the Council’s paid family leave and other family-friendly workplace policy work, please contact Senior Vice President Matt Regan.