The House Appropriations Committee narrowly approved a bill to set up a state-administered insurance program that would allow workers to take paid family leave.
The committee passed H. 196 on a 6-5 vote. The bill now moves to the House floor, where it could get a full vote as early as Monday.
H. 196 has been significantly scaled back from a version introduced in February. That bill would have implemented a 0.93 percent payroll tax, split evenly between employers and workers.
The House Appropriations Committee made amendments but approved most of the language in the version that made it through the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee on April 20. That version relies on a 0.141 percent payroll tax solely on the employee.
The original bill would have given workers their full pay for 12 weeks of parental leave, family leave or disability leave. The new version would fund six weeks of parental or family leave, but not disability leave.