Sometimes the motivation for creating legislation is personal. For Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez, he recalls, “As a child, I spent seven days in the hospital with pneumonia and nearly bankrupted my family. Between lost wages for missing work and the cost of my medical bills, my parents were barely able to make ends meet."

And sometimes, it's about taking steps towards fairness. When people aren't taking advantage of their rights under family leave law, because they can't afford it, Assemblymember Gomez sees a remedy is in order.

Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) has introduced Assembly Bill 908 to extend the length of time a worker can receive paid family leave insurance payments and increase the rate of wage replacement to allow California’s lowest income workers to use the program when a family member falls ill or to bond with a new child, without the risk of financial hardship.

The wage replacement levels and time off is far less than nearly every developed country where the median amount is full-paid leave for over five months time off.

California’s PFL program is wholly funded through worker contributions, and is administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD) in tandem with the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program.

For more information, go to Assemblymember Gomez website.