Richmond, Virginia—Paid family and medical leave is critical  for working families, and consistently one of the most popular issues for voters: recent polling suggests that 85% of voters support paid leave policies.  In February, the House of Delegates passed a historic bill to extend eight weeks of paid family and medical leave to workers in our community, so they could take time to care for sick family members, welcome a new child or recover from illness without going bankrupt.  Late Friday night, without fanfare, multimillionaire Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed that bill, cutting off a lifeline for families who had long hoped for relief. In his veto statements, the Governor (who also vetoed bills that would have extended critical protections for renters) trumpeted his respect for Virginia’s “culture of life”and said that passing a paid leave policy would disincentivize private sector businesses to provide paid leave on their own.  76% of Virginians currently have no access to paid leave and 61% of Virginians cannot even access unpaid leave. 

“Paid family and medical leave is non-negotiable for working families who are grappling with illness, helping care for family members, or taking some time to welcome a new child. We’ve spent years pushing for this bill, and we’re furious that Governor Youngkin has vetoed it despite the clear will of the people to get it passed,” said LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director at Progress Virginia. “Paid leave is a justice issue, and we’re not going to back down when it comes to fighting for justice. We are fighting for all working families, particularly the Black and Brown women who too often shoulder the burden of care at the expense of their own physical and financial health. Glenn Youngkin is only interested in helping his rich friends get richer and giving even more money and power to big corporations; yet again, he thinks of our community’s suffering as collateral damage. We may not have gotten this bill passed this year, but we will be here when Glenn Youngkin is gone, and we aren’t going to stop until we get our working families access to the support they deserve.”

BACKGROUND: 

• SB 373, sponsored by Senator Jennifer Boysko, passed by a margin of 50-46.
• The US is one of only six countries with no federal paid family leave and is one of only 11 countries with no paid medical leave.
• 76% of Virginians have no guarantee that they won’t miss a paycheck if they get sick or take a few weeks off after the birth of a child.
• Younger Americans increasingly struggle with the high cost of living: housing prices have increased a whopping 121% since the 1960s, and more than half of 18 to 39-year-olds are paying more than 30% of their income on rent (with the impact being felt hardest by Gen Z.)
• The federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows for unpaid leave but does nothing to help ameliorate a family’s costs, only applies to 39% of Virginians. The rest are left to fend for themselves, with often disastrous long-term consequences for everything from pediatric health outcomes to poverty rates among senior women.  
• Because caregiving responsibilities fall disproportionately on women, and because of the reality of the gender pay gap, more women than men are forced to leave the workforce because of caregiving responsibilities.
• Racial disparities in wealth are exacerbated by a lack of access to paid family and medical leave.
• Black people face significantly higher maternal mortality rates and higher rates of postpartum complications than their white counterparts, making paid leave an even more critical issue. 
• SB 373 would have established a new pooled paid family and medical leave fund. 
• A loan from the General Fund would have initially financed the paid family and medical leave fund, but repayment of that loan and funding in perpetuity would have come from small contributions from employers and employees. 
• An employee utilizing the fund would have been eligible for an 80% wage replacement for up to 8 weeks.