The Iowa Legislature’s 91st General Assembly begins next month. One local representative is proposing paid family leave.
House District 97 Representative Ken Croken says the state has no separate program from the federal government. The Davenport Democrat is proposing 12 weeks of paid leave. The bill would use payroll taxes to fund a state-administered pot for caregivers to apply to.
“An amount would be calculated based on… generally based on a percentage of the average weekly wage that the parent or spouse or child would normally expect. And then that would be paid by the state relying on those payroll taxes,” Representative Croken said.
Representative Croken is also proposing in the legislation to expand eligibility.
“One of the changes I am proposing is to expand that eligibility to extend to grandparents. I found myself personally affected by this, not in a real financial sense, but in a practical sense,” Representative Croken said. “My grandson was born not two years ago with a life-threatening blood disorder that required a stem cell transplant procedure, some chemotherapy, and as a result, he required isolation for the better part of six months. Well, after my daughter and her husband used up their FMLA benefits, there was no one to care for the baby who, as I say, had to be isolated. So I was in a position to commute from Iowa to New York for the last couple of months and spend time during the week with him, ensuring his successful recuperation and recovery of his own immune system.’
“But in the process, going to hospitals and doctors' offices, I was taken by the number of grandparents caring for their grandchildren because again, families can't go without a paycheck indefinitely, and so many of them had to return to work in order to maintain the health care coverage that was underwriting the whole treatment,” Representative Croken said. “So it occurred to me that grandparents who similarly needed or wanted to take time from their careers to care for their grandchildren deserved the same consideration as parents did in terms of preserving their jobs.”
The 75-year-old Davenport resident said the legislation will be sent to either the Health and Human Services or Labor committee for consideration. Representative Croken hopes the committee chairman will address the bill.
“We're in a health care crisis. There are very few who would deny it,” Representative Croken said. “The government Affordable Care Act policies are going to be in January, largely unaffordable for so many people. And the Medicaid cuts in this year's federal budget bill are going to diminish the ability of Medicare programs to care for these folks. So family medical leave may be the only solution. Families have to care for their loved ones who need serious but relatively short-term care. But that only works if you have the financial cushion to survive 12 weeks without a paycheck. That's not a lot of families. So having paid medical leaves will make the program more practical and more serviceable to more families as we sort out how we're going to administer an effective health care program for the nation.”
The statehouse representative is also reintroducing legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage. He wants to increase the current minimum wage of $7.25 to $15 an hour over three years.
He says in light of affordability issues, the current minimum wage is not a livable wage for Iowans.
“It's particularly important that we in eastern Iowa understand that the Iowa minimum wage is less than half than the Illinois minimum wage for businesses to secure the workers they need,” Representative Croken said. “We have to be able to pay a fair and effective minimum wage or all our workers will go elsewhere.”
Missouri and Nebraska’s minimum wage will increase to $15 an hour next year, matching Illinois’ minimum wage. Wisconsin is the only neighboring state that shares the federal minimum wage. Minnesota and South Dakota’s minimum wages are over $11 an hour.
The legislative session begins on January 12th.
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