Message your legislators and urge them to vote YES on HB 327 and SB 199.

These important bipartisan bills are moving quickly. SB 199 has won Senate committee approval, and the full Senate could vote on it as soon as today. HB 327 is scheduled for a vote in the House Ways and Means Education Committee on Wednesday, March 5, at 9 a.m.

We need your voice to help pass these bills and get paid parental leave legislation to the governor for her signature. You can help ensure these bills make it across the finish line and take a huge step forward for Alabama’s working families.

Tell your legislators to vote YES on HB 327 and SB 199.

These bills would provide eight weeks of paid leave for mothers who are state employees or teachers and two weeks of paid leave for fathers. The bills also would cover workers in the traumatic event of a miscarriage. Workers who newly adopt their young children would qualify for leave as well.

Workers in Alabama have no guaranteed paid leave at all right now. That means the important postnatal weeks and months too often come with a total stop of income. This forces many parents to choose between paying for basic needs or providing the parental contact and presence that infants need to thrive.

HB 327 and SB 199 are pro-family bills that would improve life for children and parents, and they would be a big win for Alabama’s working families. Paid parental leave for teachers and state employees is one of the priorities that Gov. Kay Ivey highlighted in her State of the State address this year, and we need to ensure the legislation to make it happen reaches her desk.

Your lawmakers need to hear from you that you support HB 327 and SB 199 and want them to support these bills, too.