Sununu Again Vetoes Paid Family & Medical Leave During Coronavirus Pandemic
Contact Name: Sara Persechino
Phone: (603) 271-3479
Email: Sara.Persechino@leg.state.nh.us
CONCORD - Today, Governor Sununu vetoed HB 712, a comprehensive, bipartisan paid family and medical leave program. This is the governor’s second veto of paid family and medical leave, following his veto of SB 1 in 2019.
Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes (D-Concord) issued the following statement in response:
“New Hampshire has the highest health care costs in the nation, in part based on the absence of paid family and medical leave insurance. We’d be in much better shape dealing with COVID-19 if Governor Sununu hadn’t vetoed bipartisan paid family and medical leave last year. Now, in the middle of a global pandemic, he’s at it again. Governor Sununu has never supported paid family and medical leave. When he proposed tax giveaways to the insurance lobby and big corporations that already provide paid family and medical leave, no one testified in support. Instead of working with the bipartisan group of sponsors, Governor Sununu chose to simply veto paid family and medical leave once again, this time in advance of a second wave of COVID-19 and putting the lives of workers at risk. More than ever, no one should be forced to risk their family’s economic security to take care of a loved one, take care of oneself, or be there for a new baby. As is always the case, the governor sides with the insurance lobby and big corporations over working families and small businesses, even when their health and safety is at risk.”
###