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A bid by lawmakers to significantly increase the California State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave wage replacement benefits, especially for lower-income Californians, was left out of the $300 billion state spending plan Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders unveiled Sunday.
The budget item would have boosted benefits to between 70% and 90% of a person’s wages, offering the higher rate to employees making under $57,000 per year. The plan could still be implemented as part of trailer bills, according to legislative staffers.
An alternative path for the proposal to reach the governor’s desk is a bill that would raise the programs’ wage replacement rates starting in 2025. SB 951, by State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), is advancing in the Legislature.
Without any budgetary or legislative action, hundreds of thousands of Californians each year are set to see their disability and family leave payments shrink to just 55% of their wages in 2023, due to the sunset of a bill that raised the rates to current levels. That will make the critical benefits even less affordable for lower-income workers, according to Kristin Schumacher, a policy analyst with the California Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan research nonprofit.
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