Exclusive: Georgia House Members Strongly Back Giving State Workers More Parental Leave!
Cybersecdn– A bill supported by the powerful House speaker pro tem passed the House Thursday by a vote of 153 to 11. This means that Georgia state workers who have babies could have more time off to spend with their new babies. The amount of family leave that new parents could take each year would double with Rep. Jan Jones’s House Bill 1010. It would be 240 hours or six weeks.
Anyone who has been working for at least six months and is a mother or father could take the break, whether they have a newborn or an adopted child. House Speaker Jon Burns and other Republicans pushed a bill that would give parents in the state six weeks of paid leave.
Parents could take the leave up to a year after the birth or adoption, and they could split the time up if, say, one parent needed to take time off because the baby needed a minor treatment in the first year. Jones said, “Two-thirds of Georgia state employees are women.” As the biggest employer in the state of Georgia, we compete with medium and large companies for a skilled or educated workforce.
Most of us are aware that the number of people working is going down, especially women, and that this is partly because of the higher costs of childcare today. Jones said that the bill was a way for the state to keep those skilled people working for the government. The bill got good reviews from people in both parties.
Georgia state workers who grow their families could have more time off to spend with their bundles of joy thanks to a bill that overwhelmingly passed the House Thursday. https://t.co/uD2P3yesEB #gapol
— Georgia Recorder (@GeorgiaRecorder) February 16, 2024
Representative Lauren Daniel, a Republican from Locust Grove, said, “This is important for the women of this state and the children of this state.” “There’s no denying the benefits.” Daniel is a mom of four. She often brings her youngest son Zane to House sessions in a baby carrier. But Daniel said that most Georgia moms don’t have that option.
She said, “I can take care of him in a way that isn’t typical, but I hope that by showing you guys this and business owners across the state that it is possible, it’s a good thing.” “Moms will like it. It’s good for kids. But when it comes to parental leave, it requires it. I’m glad we’re making it bigger.” The new three-week leave policy was put in place by the Legislature in 2021. Most government workers can take 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
Rep. Jasmine Clark, a Democrat from Lilburn with a Ph.D. in microbiology, said the bill was a step in the right direction. However, she said that the first six to eight weeks after giving birth should be used for physical recovery, bonding, and getting used to new habits. She said, “Three weeks was better than nothing, but it’s still not enough.”
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Our vote today is on a bill that gets us halfway to the ideal length of 12 weeks and at least better meets the physical needs of new parents during their healing. So I’m in favor of this bill because I hope it means that the 12 weeks of paid leave that government workers currently have is about to come. The bill needs to pass the Senate by March 28 before Gov. Brian Kemp can decide if he will sign it into law.