Oregon Public Broadcasting

Paid Family Leave for working families in Washington State is on indefinite hold because of budget woes. That means the legislatively-approved program won’t launch next October as planned. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Under the program, new parents would receive a stipend of up to $250 a week for five weeks to stay at home with a new child.

Last year, the legislature failed to agree on a permanent funding source for the program, but did provide some start up money.

Now Governor Chris Gregoire, a Democrat up for re-election, is freezing the program because the state faces a major budget deficit.

State Senator Karen Keiser, a Democrat and key backer of paid family leave, calls it a setback.

Karen Keiser: “But the law remains on the books, we’re not going to take it away, it just unfortunately will not be able apparently to provide help to new parents in October.”

The question remains whether the legislature will be able to agree next year on a way to fund the program long-term – especially since both candidates for governor say new taxes are not on the table.