Majority Leader Aguiar-Curry Vows to Continue the Fight Next Year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D- Winters) announced today that she has decided to hold AB 2901 on the Senate Floor. She plans to continue her fight on this landmark legislation next year, with the goal of ensuring the strongest paid leave policies for California’s educators.

Under current state law, if an educator who experiences pregnancy or pregnancy-related complications needs more time than the standard six weeks of leave, they must begin to use up their accrued sick leave. The lack of paid disability leave contributes to problems with attracting and retaining educators in the workforce, as many educators are forced to leave the profession when they become pregnant and often do not return. In an environment where California schools and community colleges are having widespread difficulty hiring, attracting and retaining educators due in part to low pay, high housing costs, and other rising costs of living, penalizing women educators with a “gender penalty” in their retirement does not help.

Educators who have exhausted their sick leave due to pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or recovery from those conditions are at a huge disadvantage – on average, women educators earn almost $100,000 less in retirement than their male colleagues. AB 2901 would have granted public school employees, including community college faculty, up to 14 weeks of leave with full pay for pregnancies and pregnancy-related health issues.

 “I am disappointed that we couldn’t pass AB 2901. Teachers deserve the strongest protections for paid pregnancy leave, and we are not satisfied with the bill in its current form. I am committed to returning to the table next year to ensure that our educators and community college faculty receive the paid leave—and equitable retirement—they deserve.”

AB 2901 would have ended the discriminatory practice of giving employees across schools and community colleges who are pregnant no choice but to deplete their sick leave. This bill matched the International Labor Organization’s recommendation of 14 weeks for maternity leave. Further, AB 2901 aligned with the goals of the Paid Family Leave Task Force convened by Governor Newsom in 2019 by increasing leave access, providing better job protections, and expanding the length of coverage for a critical segment of California’s workers.

"We are disappointed AB 2901 will not make it to the Governor’s desk, and that hard working teachers and classified professionals throughout California will continue to go without pregnancy leave benefits for another year,” said Jeff Freitas, President of the California Federation of Teachers. “We are grateful for Assembly Majority Leader Aguiar-Curry’s leadership on this critical issue and look forward to getting the bill signed into law next year."

“It’s time to stop asking our educators to sacrifice their financial security, the health of their families, and the health of their school communities in order to do their critical jobs,” Aguiar-Curry said. “I will continue my fight next year to create equity in the education workforce and give educators and community college faculty the necessary time off to care for themselves and their child, as we ask them to care for ours.”

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Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry represents the 4th Assembly District, which includes all of Lake, Colusa, Napa, and Yolo Counties, and part of Sonoma County.