WASHINGTON — Less than a year after the D.C. City Council passed a generous paid family leave bill, lawmakers are already considering changing the measure to soften the tax burden on business owners.
The current law’s benefits would be funded through a 0.62 percent tax on D.C. businesses, which is expected to generate $250 million annually.
However, during a hearing Tuesday, council members discussed putting in place alternatives to the tax, including a public insurance program that would fund benefits through a fee on employees and employers.
Under a different plan, businesses would be required to provide the benefits on their own.
Another “hybrid” option would require smaller companies to participate in a public insurance program while larger businesses privately provided the benefits.
“The next critical step is for the council to make a final decision on the structure of the paid leave program,” City Administrator Rashad Young told council members. “It’s important for the council to keep in mind the impact this process is having on our ability to implement the program on the time frame set forth in the existing law,”
Young expressed concern that the District is moving too slowly and setting aside an insufficient amount of money.
“We’re starting from zero,” he said. “We have no infrastructure in the government to build on for this program.”
Businesses are supposed to be taxed starting in July 2019 under the current law, which provides eight weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. It also allows for six weeks of paid time off to care for a family member who is ill and two weeks of personal paid sick time.
The benefits would not apply to federal workers or city employees.
D.C.’s business community has largely been opposed to the measure, as has Mayor Muriel Bowser, who refused to sign it, allowing it to become law without her signature.
