In a third and final vote, the New Hampshire House approved a program creating a state-run paid family and medical leave insurance program Thursday, staving off last-minute challenges and criticisms and sending the proposal to the Senate.
The vote, 171-162, green-lights a plan to offer up to six weeks of paid family and medical leave insurance to all employees of private companies through a program run by the Department of Employment. Private employers would have to offer it or offer an equivalent private plan; employees would be automatically enrolled unless they chose to opt out.
Rep. Mary Gile, D-Concord, the bill’s original sponsor, was elated.
“This program will help attract a younger workforce with the skills and talent to move our state’s economy in a positive direction,” she said.
For the House, the vote marked the dramatic end of a process that’s veered wildly. The bill had passed the full House twice earlier, in January and February, but in some committee it was met with significant concerns over cost and viability.
On Wednesday, it overcame an attempted overhaul by the House Finance Committee. An amendment passed last week by Rep. Lynne Ober, R-Hudson, changed the underlying structure of the bill from a proposal to create a state-run insurance program to a proposal mandating that private employers offer private insurance plans.
Ober argued on the floor that her amendment was the best approach to expand insurance while saving the state from the unforeseeable costs required to implement the systems and staff necessary to oversee the program.
“This is a good amendment. It is respectful. It stays within the policy passed by the House,” she said.
And Finance Committee Chairman Neal Kurk, R-Weare, added that the program could put the state on the hook for future benefits to employees, which could create legal headaches if the program becomes insolvent.
But Democrats said the amendment would undermine the intention of the bill, and they advocated for the original bill. Speaking on the floor, Gile called Ober’s amendment “an eleventh-hour, poorly vetted and deeply flawed attempt to replace a bill passed by this House twice.”
The chamber voted down the amendment, 156-175, opting instead to pass the version it approved in February.
As the bill heads to the Senate, it could face additional overhauls. On Wednesday Gov. Chris Sununu – a supporter of a paid family leave program – expressed strong reservations about the structure of the Democrats’ bill, raising questions about its pricetag and long-term solvency.
Speaking after Thursday’s vote, a spokesman for the governor, Ben Vihstadt, said Sununu will seek major changes to the bill in the Senate.
“We simply cannot create a program that Granite Staters would come to rely on that we aren’t certain would be there for them in their times of need,” Vihstadt said. “Much works remains to be done in the Senate to address these concerns.”
(Ethan DeWitt can be re ached at edewitt@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter at @edewittNH.)