At this point, there is only one roadblock to access to paid family and medical leave for working families and small businesses in New Hampshire: Gov. Sununu.
Unfortunately, he’s not taking his responsibility for the well-being of Granite Staters seriously. Recently, Gov. Sununu said the advocacy of private citizens – his constituents – calling for paid family leave was “funny” and he brushed aside their experiences and concerns with his false flag cry of an “income tax.”
Our democracy works only if private citizens are active and engaged. As Justice Brandeis has written: “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.” Not governor, not state senator, but citizen. In New Hampshire, we are fortunate to have such an active and engaged citizenry. It’s something we should foster and celebrate, not use as a punchline.
Over 80 percent of Granite Staters support paid family and medical leave. That broad support transcends party lines, ideology and geography. Now, bipartisan legislation that has been worked on for years, Senate Bill 1, has cleared both the Senate and the House and will soon be on Gov. Sununu’s desk. Gov. Sununu has refused to work on this bipartisan legislation, choosing to go it alone. Now, he has stated publicly he wants to veto paid family leave. Here’s what’s at stake if he does.
If Gov. Sununu vetoes Senate Bill 1, most workers caregiving for a spouse, parent or grandparent who needs assistance, or who may be in hospice or dying, will continue to have to choose between work and family.
If Gov. Sununu vetoes Senate Bill 1, workers struggling with opioid addiction who cannot do an intensive in-patient program for fear of losing their job or risking their family’s economic security, won’t get the treatment they need.
If Gov. Sununu vetoes Senate Bill 1, workers who have or who adopt a new baby won’t be able to bond with the baby, won’t be there at that critical early time, and won’t think New Hampshire is the best place to start and raise a family.
If Gov. Sununu vetoes Senate Bill 1, small businesses struggling to provide this benefit – unlike big corporations who can do this on their own – will continue to be at a competitive disadvantage in attracting and retaining the workforce of tomorrow.
The paid leave proposal put forward in Senate Bill 1 is an innovative, public-private partnership based on input from the business community that addresses every concern Gov. Sununu raised in the last biennium when he worked to kill paid family leave.
Every worker in every community across New Hampshire will have access to paid family leave insurance under SB 1, but the legislation does not mandate or dictate how it is paid for or how it is provided. Businesses have several options. They can provide it directly. They can self-insure. They can join into unemployment insurance with a payroll deduction for the insurance premiums. Or they can join into unemployment insurance and pay the insurance premiums on behalf of their workers.
In short, this is like unemployment insurance, but with more flexibility and options for our businesses. If Senate Bill 1 is somehow an income tax, then so is unemployment insurance. Will Gov. Sununu next call for a repeal of unemployment insurance?
Working families have struggled to make ends meet for far too long. Small businesses are finding it harder and harder to compete with big corporations. After years of bipartisan work and study on this issue, New Hampshire finally has a comprehensive, affordable paid family leave plan that will make our state a better place to live, work and raise a family. Additionally, as the child advocate recently pointed out, paid family leave will help address the child protection crisis we have in our state.
There is nothing funny about the heartbreaking stories constituents have shared with lawmakers this year, and in the past, about making difficult decisions between their job and caring for a loved one as they fight for their life.
If Gov. Sununu can’t find the courage to sign paid family leave into law to help protect the economic security of his fellow Granite Staters and to ease their suffering, he should let Senate Bill 1 become law without his signature. It’s the least he could do.
(Dan Feltes is a former legal aid attorney who lives in the South End of Concord. He serves as state senator for Concord, Henniker, Hopkinton, Penacook and Warner, as Senate Majority Leader and is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 1.)