Thursday night at the AWB-sponsored gubernatorial debate, Governor Gregoire surprised some folks by announcing the suspension of the state's troubled paid family leave program due to budget problems. We noted that announcement is sensible but needs some fleshing out because, ultimately, it takes the Legislature to suspend the program.
The Olympian's Adam Wilson did just that with this blog post and a story in today's print edition. The Washington Policy Center's Carl Gipson got in touch with the Governor's office and posts some thoughts here.
The gist is that "suspending" the program means mothballing the computer system that was under development to handle benefit checks should the program ever get funded in anticipation of its October 1, 2009 start date.
That's less than actually asking the Legislature to formally suspend the program, but given the practicalities of the situation, it's a decision that makes that scenario seem inevitable.
