Shelby Ramirez Martinez flips through a folder of bills in her Denver apartment in February, 2015. As a low-wage worker with no paid family leave, Ramirez Martinez says caring for loved ones over the years sent her finances into a tailspin.
A national dark-money nonprofit will spend $500,000 on a ballot initiative to create a paid family leave program for Colorado workers, organizers announced on Wednesday. Their real goal, though, is to pressure lawmakers to pass it first.
Family leave is one of the most controversial topics at the Colorado legislature this year, even among Democrats. Liberal lawmakers aim to create a new state-run program that would reimburse a portion of workers’ wages for several weeks when they’re out bonding with a new child or dealing with a medical issue in the family.
But the bill hasn’t materialized yet, and the party’s support hasn’t gelled around the idea — in part because Gov. Jared Polis has raised concerns about the state-run model.
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