LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is considering one of the most generous parental leave policies in the country. The rationale behind it is also unique. Oliver Morrison of the nonprofit news outlet, Pittsburgh's Public Source, reports.
OLIVER MORRISON, BYLINE: Right now, 14 states have a paid parental leave policy, but there's no federal policy. The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides time off, but it doesn't offer any pay. So it's only helpful to those people who can afford to go without pay. Sara Innamorato is the chief executive of Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh. The progressive Democrat says leaders like her can't stand by when families are clamoring for help.
SARA INNAMORATO: People are so tired of having elected bodies not do what they care about.
MORRISON: So she is leading an effort to pass the country's first local parental leave policy in a state that doesn't have one. The proposal would require businesses to pay out 100% of workers' salaries for 12 weeks. Most state policies only pay a portion of workers' salaries. During her advocacy this summer, she shared that she was pregnant with her first child, and Innamorato already secured leave for county government employees, including herself.
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INNAMORATO: I will be so disappointed in myself as the first county executive who will give birth in office to not be able to provide parental leave for other families who are struggling every day.
MORRISON: The leave would also be the first proposed as a public health measure, a way to increase breastfeeding, vaccination uptake and postpartum mental health. But businesses are not happy. It isn't just big businesses. Coffee shops and yoga studios say they can't afford it. Here's John Graf, a local business owner at a public hearing in June.
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JOHN GRAF: For local shops, the restaurants, the places you like to go on your main streets, this isn't a public health problem. It's a math problem. And the math simply does not add up.
MORRISON: The new policy received more than 1,500 public comments, more than any single issue in recent memory. Hundreds from business owners and administrators who oppose the policy, and about twice as many in favor of the policy, including from Marchel Robinson, a nurse at a Pittsburgh maternity hospital. She didn't have access to paid leave for her first pregnancy and ended up with postpartum depression after returning to work too soon.
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MARCHEL ROBINSON: I had a difficult pregnancy and a difficult delivery, and I didn't have the time or the support I needed to recover. With my second child, I did have access to better parental leave. The difference was life-changing.
MORRISON: So far, paid parental leave has only become law in states controlled by Democrats. Allegheny County's policy would be the first in a purple or red state. Chris Borick, a politics professor at Lehigh University, says paid parental leave is popular among voters. And so if it's successful, the new policy could catch the attention of leaders in liberal pockets of conservative states like Memphis or Houston or Kansas City.
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CHRIS BORICK: You have some very blue Islands and some very red political seas. And, you know, on those islands, they'll be watching.
MORRISON: After listening to business leaders, Innamorato's administration made changes to the proposal. It now includes an exception for small businesses with fewer than 15 workers. Innamorato says local progressives need to take pragmatic steps like this.
INNAMORATO: Everyday people don't win on progressive rhetoric alone. They need policies to actually move through whatever process they need to go through.
MORRISON: And Innamorato is due to give birth in November. Around the time the county council will give the policy a final vote. For NPR News in Pittsburgh, I'm Oliver Morrison.
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