Paid family leave idea a likely no-go in Olympia

Published 12:02 pm Friday, June 28, 2013

OLYMPIA — The House has approved a measure that indefinitely delays implementation of an as-of-yet unfunded law giving Washington state parents five weeks of paid time off to be with a new child until the Legislature finds a way to pay for it.

The bill was approved on a 70-19 vote and now heads to the Senate.

Paid family leave for state residents was approved by the Legislature in 2007, and was supposed to start paying benefits of up to $250 a week starting in October 2009. But without an agreed-upon funding source, the Legislature has postponed its implementation twice.