Bill to give California workers full pay for family leave moves forward

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California lawmakers are pushing for people to be paid their full wages when they are out on family leave.

The Assembly voted 50-3 on Thursday to ensure workers get 100 percent of their wages instead of the 60 or 70 percent the state's paid leave program currently provides.

Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the bill's author, says it will help more workers with lower incomes take paid family leave.

But a legislative analysis says it would cost the fund that pays for the program hundreds of millions of additional dollars in coming years.

The bill is Assembly Bill 196. It now goes to the state Senate.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has endorsed a different bill to expand paid family leave from six to eight weeks per worker.