Paid family and medical leave is one of the issues at the top of the agenda for Democrats who run the Virginia Senate.
Senator Jennifer Boysko is a Democrat from Herndon who is getting ready for her eighth General Assembly session trying to pass a bill to create a system for paid family and medical leave. So far, she's been unsuccessful, even when Democrats were in the governor's mansion and controlled the Senate. Now, this year, it's become a top priority for Senate Democrats.
"All around the world, every other industrialized country has this. So, I have educated my colleagues," Boysko says. "We have new members who agree that this should be a priority."
Critics say it's an expensive priority, perhaps as much as two billion dollars a year.
"There's a lot of things in life that it would be nice to have, and there's a lot of things in life that people don't want to pay for, and that's the problem," says Stephen Haner at the Thomas Jefferson Institute. "It's going to be a big tax, a noticeable tax, and it's going to show up on everybody's paycheck. It's a payroll tax."
Boysko says she's pleased the next governor has expressed support for the concept, and she believes Abigail Spanberger understands the importance of giving families the ability to care for themselves and their loved ones in their most difficult times.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
