By Nat Baldino

CLASP is excited to share the new virtual home for our Paid Leave Administrators’ Network. For several years, we have facilitated a unique learning community where administrators of state paid leave programs can come together regularly to share knowledge and resources around implementing paid leave programs. At our bi-monthly meetings we’ve seen administrators support each other through the final sprint to program launches, collaborate on language to improve equity and inclusion in user experience, share innovative program designs, and ultimately create a collaborative environment that serves as a true model for what state government programs can look like.

Currently, 14 states plus the District of Columbia have passed paid leave legislation, with many more looking at these state successes to move toward their own PFML programs. The recently reintroduced FAMILY Act builds on lessons learned from the states to create a federal program that can serve all working families. But passing legislation is only the beginning of the journey toward paid leave. Our administrators know that once the bill is signed, the intense work of implementing a program begins. Successful and equitable implementation requires deep, collaborative partnerships between agencies, states, and community-based organizations; and innovation continues long after a program’s rollout date. At our 2024 convening, we saw states with long-established programs inspired by peer states to improve existing programs; similarly, newer programs rely upon the lessons learned from long-standing programs to forge ahead.

Implementing paid leave is often diligently done behind the scenes. This new virtual home for the network aims to be a space where we can pull back the curtain on some of the complex administrative problem-solving that makes a paid leave program truly work for working families. We will highlight lessons learned from the administrators network, providing tangible examples of how administrators have successfully worked through technical issues to create more equitable programs. We hope these case studies will not only highlight the remarkable work of our administrators, but also give advocates, policymakers, and other agencies narrative context for the way in which policymaking decisions ripple out into regulatory and administrative actions that shape the life of a program.