"NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS. The legislature finds that, although family and medical leave laws have assisted individuals to balance the demands of the workplace with their family responsibilities, more needs to be done to achieve the goals of parent-child bonding, workforce stability, and economic security. In particular, the legislature finds that many individuals do not have access to family and medical leave laws, and those who do may not be in a financial position to take family and medical leave that is unpaid, and that employer-paid benefits meet only a relatively small part of this need. The legislature declares it to be in the public interest to establish a program that: (1) Allows parents to bond with a newborn or newly placed child; (2) provides limited and additional income support for a reasonable period while an individual is away from work on family and medical leave; (3) reduces the impact on state income support programs by increasing an individual's ability to provide caregiving services for a child while maintaining an employment relationship; and (4) establishes a wage replacement benefit to be coordinated with current state and federal family and medical leave laws.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   DEFINITIONS. The definitions in this section apply throughout this act unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Application year" means the twelve-month period beginning on the first day of the calendar week in which an individual files an application for family and medical leave insurance benefits and, thereafter, the twelve-month period beginning with the first day of the calendar week in which the individual next files an application for family and medical leave insurance benefits after the expiration of the individual's last preceding application year.
     (2) "Calendar quarter" means the same as in RCW 50.04.050.
     (3) "Child" means the same as in RCW 49.78.020.
     (4) "Employer" means: (a) The same as in RCW 50.04.080; and (b) the state and its political subdivisions.
     (5) "Employment" means the same as in RCW 50.04.100.
     (6) "Family and medical leave" means leave for the birth or placement of a child as defined in RCW 49.78.020 and described in RCW 49.78.220(1) (a) or (b).
     (7) "Family and medical leave insurance benefits" means the benefits payable under section 3 of this act.
     (8) "Qualifying year" means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters or the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the individual's application year.
     (9) "Regularly working" means the average number of hours per workweek that an individual worked in the two quarters of the individual's qualifying year in which total wages were highest.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   BENEFITS. (1) Beginning October 1, 2009, family and medical leave insurance benefits are payable to an individual during a period in which the individual is unable to perform his or her regular or customary work because he or she is on family and medical leave if the individual has been employed for at least six hundred eighty hours in employment during the individual's qualifying year.
     (2) The maximum number of weeks during which family and medical leave insurance benefits are payable in an application year is five weeks. However, benefits are not payable during a waiting period consisting of the first seven calendar days of family and medical leave.
     (3) The amount of family and medical leave insurance benefits shall be determined as follows:
     (a) The weekly benefit shall be two hundred fifty dollars per week for an individual who at the time of beginning family and medical leave was regularly working thirty-five hours or more per week.
     (b) For an individual who was regularly working thirty-five hours or more per week at the time of beginning family and medical leave and is on family and medical leave for less than thirty-five hours but at least eight hours in a week, the weekly benefit shall be .025 times the maximum weekly benefit times the number of hours of family and medical leave taken in the week.
     (c) For an individual who was regularly working less than thirty-five hours per week at the time of beginning family and medical leave, there shall be a prorated schedule for a weekly benefit amount and a minimum number of hours of family and medical leave that must be taken in a week for benefits to be payable. The prorated schedule shall be based on the amounts and the calculations specified under (a) and (b) of this subsection.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   NO CONTINUING ENTITLEMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RIGHT. This act does not create a continuing entitlement or contractual right. The legislature reserves the right to amend or repeal all or part of this act at any time, and a benefit or other right granted under this act exists subject to the legislature's power to amend or repeal this act. There is no vested private right of any kind against such amendment or repeal.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   LEAVE AND EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION. (1) Beginning October 1, 2009, during a period in which an individual receives family and medical leave insurance benefits or earns waiting period credits under this act, the individual is entitled to family and medical leave and, at the established ending date of leave, to be restored to a position of employment with the employer from whom leave was taken.
     (2) The individual entitled to leave under this section shall be restored to a position of employment in the same manner as an employee entitled to leave under chapter 49.78 RCW is restored to a position of employment, as specified in RCW 49.78.280.
     (3) This section applies only to an individual if:
     (a) The employer from whom the individual takes family and medical leave employs more than twenty-five employees; and
     (b) The individual has been employed for at least twelve months by that employer, and for at least one thousand two hundred fifty hours of service with that employer during the previous twelve-month period.
     (4) This section shall be enforced as provided in chapter 49.78 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   COORDINATION OF LEAVE. (1)(a) Leave taken under this act must be taken concurrently with any leave taken under the federal family and medical leave act of 1993 (Act Feb. 5, 1993, P.L. 103-3, 107 Stat. 6) or under chapter 49.78 RCW.
     (b) An employer may require that leave taken under this act be taken concurrently or otherwise coordinated with leave allowed under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or employer policy, as applicable, for the birth or placement of a child. The employer must give individuals in its employ written notice of this requirement.
     (2)(a) This act does not diminish an employer's obligation to comply with a collective bargaining agreement or employer policy, as applicable, that provides greater leave for the birth or placement of a child.
     (b) An individual's right to leave under this act may not be diminished by a collective bargaining agreement entered into or renewed or an employer policy adopted or retained after the effective date of this section. Any agreement by an individual to waive his or her rights under this act is void as against public policy.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. Beginning July 1, 2011, the costs of administering this act may not exceed ten percent of the total costs of family and medical leave insurance benefits.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   JOINT LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE. (1)(a) The joint legislative task force on family and medical leave insurance is established, with thirteen members as provided in this subsection.
     (i) The chair and the ranking member of the senate labor, commerce, research and development committee.
     (ii) The chair and the ranking member of the house commerce and labor committee.
     (iii) The majority leader of the senate shall appoint one member from each of the two largest caucuses of the senate.
     (iv) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint one member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of representatives.
     (v) The majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives jointly shall appoint four nonlegislative members of the task force, which shall include one member representing large business, one member representing small business, one member representing labor, and one member representing women.
     (vi) The governor shall appoint one member of the task force.
     (b) The majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives jointly shall appoint the cochairs of the task force from among the legislative members of the task force. The cochairs shall convene the initial meeting of the task force. A steering committee consisting of the legislative members of the task force shall advise the cochairs on the meetings and other activities of the task force.
     (2) The task force shall study the establishment of a family and medical leave insurance program including, but not limited to, the following:
     (a) The manner in which the benefits and the administrative costs should be financed;
     (b) The manner in which the program should be implemented and administered;
     (c) Any government efficiencies which should be adopted to improve program administration and reduce program costs; and
     (d) The impacts, if any, of the family and medical leave insurance program on the unemployment compensation system, and options for mitigating such impacts.
     (3) Staff support for the task force must be provided by the senate committee services and the house of representatives office of program research. The task force may hire additional staff with specific technical expertise if such expertise is necessary to carry out the mandates of this study, and only if an appropriation is specifically provided for this purpose.
     (4) Legislative members of the task force must be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative members, except those representing an employer or organization, are entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
     (5) The expenses of the task force must be paid jointly by the senate and the house of representatives. Task force expenditures are subject to approval by the senate facilities and operations committee and the house of representatives executive rules committee, or their successor committees.
     (6) The task force shall report its findings and recommendations, which shall include proposed legislation, to the legislature by January 1, 2008.
     (7) This section expires July 1, 2009.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   CAPTIONS. Captions used in this act are not any part of the law.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   EFFECTIVE DATE. Section 8 of this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately."