SSB 5286 would change the paid family and medical leave (PFML) rate structure. Both the Senate and the House have passed the bill.
The legislation requires the premiums to be set to maintain a new three-month reserve. The legislative task force on paid family and medical leave premiums recommended in November that the reserve be seeded with money from the general fund–state (GFS). Last year, in the 2022 supplemental, the Legislature had set aside $350 million from the GFS for the PFML account, but that was only to ensure that the account would not be in a deficit at the end of 2021–23.
Both the Senate and House-passed 2023 supplemental budgets would reduce the $350 million appropriation—to $225 million in the Senate and to $200 million in the House. Under both proposals, the appropriation would be direct (not contingent on a deficit).
