Maine Legislature Approves PFML, Governor Expected to Take Action on Bill Soon

Last week, the Committee To Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program approved a new version of LD 1964: the bill that would create a PFML program in Maine. The original proposal, which was voted out of commission last month, underwent additional revisions following concerns from business groups.

Committee members went back and worked on the bill before it was presented to the Senate and House this week. Now we are happy to report that legislators in both chambers have voted to pass LD1964 and bring PFML to Maine.

Write an LTE to Governor Janet Mills and urge her to sign this legislation into law!

Some highlights from the amended bill include:

• 12-weeks of paid leave to tend to a sick or dying loved one, bond with/care for a newborn, or recover from one’s own health challenges.

• Employees on leave receive a portion of their normal wage with lower income earners receiving a higher percentage of wage replacement.

• To pay for the benefit, employees will contribute less than 0.5 percent of their paycheck. Large employers will also contribute 0.5 percent of their employees wages toward the program. Small businesses owners with fewer employees would not be obliged to contribute to the program; however, those employees would be eligible for the benefit.

Help us get Paid Family Medical leave across the finish line. Write an LTE to the Governor today and urge her to take action.

Thanks to the persistence of bill sponsors Sen. Mattie Daughtry and Rep. Kristen Cloutier, this proposal has crossed yet another hurdle and will soon be on the Governor’s desk.

The fact remains that no Mainer should have to miss out on a paycheck in order to care for themselves or a sick family member. We applaud the Maine Legislature for passing this vital legislation and look forward to finally seeing PFML in Maine.

Maine Legislature Approves Legislation to Bolster Affordable Child Care System

Last week, the Maine House and Senate passed LD 1726: An Act to Build Maine's Economy by Supporting Child Care for Working Families!

As we’ve reported in the past, the bill was designed to guarantee affordable child care for working Mainers by 2030, and remedy the many challenges facing childcare centers and the workers that operate within them.

The new legislation, which was sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson, strives to achieve this goal in a number of ways. The bill would establish the Maine Child Care Scholarship Program, direct DHHS to implement a program to achieve affordable child care by 2030, and establish the Child Care Task Force.

A recent study found that of the approximately 37,000 children in Maine that are less than three years old, seventy-percent have mothers in the workforce. The same study found that twenty-two percent of Mainers live in an area where there are more than three times as many children under the age of five as there are licensed child care slots.

LD 1726 is expected to be on the Governor’s desk in the coming weeks. This bill would go a long way to support the thousands of working Mainers with children operating within the workforce to provide for their families. We applaud Senator Jackson for his leadership on this issue and we urge Governor Mills to sign LD 1726 into law.

Lawmakers Look to Guarantee Affordable Childcare for Working Mainers by 2030

Maine’s childcare system is struggling to meet the needs of families.

As we’ve reported in the past, some progress has been made to remedy the many challenges facing childcare centers and the hardworking Mainers that operate within them. But it is clear that the scope of investment needed in the sector requires more action from our lawmakers. Thankfully a group of legislators are stepping up to find solutions for working Mainers.

Senate President Troy Jackson recently introduced LD 1726: An Act to Build Maine's Economy by Supporting Child Care for Working Families. The bill is co-sponsored by at least eight other lawmakers from both chambers of the Maine legislature, including Senator Vitelli of Sagadahoc and Rep. Millett of Cape Elizabeth.

The proposal would:

• Establish the Maine Child Care Scholarship Program within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This program would retroactively reimburse programs that provide its families with tuition assistance, ensuring that they can continue to provide the best child care possible while making them affordable for working families.
  

• Direct DHHS to implement a program to achieve affordable child care by 2030. The program would be designed to, over time, ensure that no family making less than 250% of the state’s median household income spends more than 7% of their annual income on child care.
  

• Establish the Child Care Task Force to make recommendations to DHHS regarding quality child care, particularly attracting and retaining qualified child care professionals by establishing stronger salary ranges, incentivizing higher education, and increasing support for child care providers that help some of Maine’s most underserved communities. The task force would consist of child care providers; early childhood educators; representatives for state programs on early childhood education, child care providers, and diversity, equity, and inclusion; parents; and economic and policy experts.

LD 1726 would support childcare workers and establish an affordable system across the state for working Mainers. We urge the Legislature to pass this important bill.