Should the MN Legislature require businesses to provide paid family leave?

(ABC 6 News) – John Reynolds, with the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), talks with ABC 6 News Anchor Betsy Singer about paid family medical leave benefits.

Reynolds said, "I think the paid leave insurance proposal that we’re seeing in the Minnesota Senate right now is intended to mimic insurance products, existing products, like short-term disability insurance, which a lot of people use to cover lost wages from temporary absences from work. And, paid leave insurance is a new frontier for a lot of states right now but it’s something a lot of other places have taken an interest in."

Reynolds goes on to say, "I think there’s nothing wrong with legalizing new options for small businesses, which is what the paid leave insurance proposal would do. We’ll see how negotiations go. So far the negotiations on what should be common sense issues like unemployment insurance tax relief have failed, so we don’t want to see a mandate on Main Street businesses. One size fits all mandates don’t work for Minnesota. When it comes down to it we like the idea of voluntary options, we like seeing how that market could play out. I think there’s a lot of really good examples in this space of where we’ve taken a chance on new insurance products like agriculture cooperative health centers, a totally new concept five years ago. But, now offer health insurance to tens of thousands of people in greater Minnesota, so we have examples of where this has played out successfully. So, I think that a voluntary approach is the right way to start this."