OLYMPIA — Washington state has received a $247,000 federal grant to look at the potential impacts of a paid family leave program that was approved by the Legislature in 2007, but has never been implemented due to lack of funding.
Tuesday’s announcement by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez does not mean that families will get the $250 weekly stipend for 12 weeks that was in the bill passed by the Legislature, but never funded. Instead, the grant will allow the Washington State Employment Security Department to study the feasibility and impacts of the unimplemented law.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Jay Inslee noted that ultimately the Legislature would still need to fund the law in order for it to be implemented.
Washington was one of eight states to receive the funding.
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