COLUMBUS, Ohio—New Republican-authored legislation in the Ohio House would offer employers up to $54,000 per year in tax credits if they provide at least eight weeks of parental leave to their workers.
House Bill 682, introduced last week with bipartisan support, is designed by its authors to encourage companies to provide paid leave to new mothers and fathers, rather than requiring employers to offer such benefits, as some other states do.
Under the bill, the state would offer a state income-tax credit of up to $300 per day to private employers that offer their workers parental-leave benefits equal to 100% of their pay for a minimum of 56 days after a birth, stillbirth, or adoption of a child.
So, for one employee, that would total about $16,800 in tax credits for eight weeks of leave. Employers could claim the benefit for multiple employees who take parental leave, but the bill would cap the max benefit for an employer at $54,000 for a year.
Businesses with parental-leave policies that deduct time from employees’ other paid-leave time would not qualify for the tax credit, according to the legislation.
State Rep. Josh Williams, a Toledo-area Republican co-sponsoring HB682, said the legislation is meant to both encourage Ohio employers without parental-leave benefits to begin offering them, and to motivate companies that currently offer less than eight weeks of paid leave to extend those benefits further.
The nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission is still working to determine how much the state would lose in income-tax revenue if the bill becomes law, Williams said.
Williams acknowledged that there likely won’t be enough time for the legislature to pass the bill before the current legislative session ends in December.
However, he said that he and the bill’s other co-sponsor, Republican state Rep. Melanie Miller of Ashland, want to “get the legislature talking about it” now, then seek to pass it next year — either as a standalone bill or as part of a new two-year state budget.
Williams said he anticipates the measure will be supported by statewide business groups, as they “always like the idea of employers getting tax credits instead of mandates.”
HB682 has five House co-sponsors so far, including one Democrat: state Rep. Darnell Brewer of Cleveland.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 13 states have mandatory paid family and medical leave programs. Ohio is not one of them. Federal law requires employers to offer 12 weeks of maternity and paternity leave, but it doesn’t require that they pay workers while they are on leave.
Starting last year, State of Ohio employees are eligible for 12 weeks of parental leave at 70% pay – triple the amount of time they were previously offered – and no longer have to go through a 14-day unpaid waiting period.
Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
