I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 3090 To establish the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network to provide support and incentives for the development and adoption of an interstate agree- ment that facilitates streamlined benefit delivery, reduced administrative burden, and coordination and harmonization of State paid family and medical leave programs to benefit employees, States, and employers. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL30, 2025 Ms. H OULAHAN(for herself, Mrs. BICE, Ms. LETLOW, Ms. STEVENS, Mrs. M ILLER-MEEKS, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. FEENSTRA, and Mr. BEYER) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu- cation and Workforce A BILL To establish the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network to provide support and incentives for the development and adoption of an interstate agreement that facilitates streamlined benefit delivery, reduced administrative bur- den, and coordination and harmonization of State paid family and medical leave programs to benefit employees, States, and employers. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3090 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Interstate Paid Leave 2 Action Network Act of 2025’’ or ‘‘I–PLAN Act of 2025’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) BLS.—The term ‘‘BLS’’ means the Bureau 6 of Labor Statistics. 7 (2) E MPLOYER-PROVIDED PAID FAMILY AND 8 MEDICAL LEAVE PLAN .—The terms ‘‘employer-pro-9 vided paid family and medical leave plan’’ and ‘‘em-10 ployer plan’’ mean a plan that— 11 (A) is provided by an employer to the em-12 ployees of such employer (whether directly, 13 under a contract with an insurer, or provided 14 through a multiemployer plan); 15 (B) is an option for an employer within the 16 structure of a State paid family and medical 17 leave program in such State; and 18 (C) meets or exceeds the requirements of 19 the State paid family and medical leave pro-20 gram of the State in which such employee is 21 employed. 22 (3) I–PLAN.—The term ‘‘I–PLAN’’ means the 23 Interstate Paid Leave Action Network established in 24 section 3(a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3090 IH (4) I–PLAN AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘I– 1 PLAN Agreement’’ means the interstate agreement 2 produced pursuant to section 3(b). 3 (5) N ATIONAL INTERMEDIARY .—The term ‘‘na-4 tional intermediary’’ means a national nongovern-5 mental workforce organization that has extensive ex-6 perience partnering with the Department of Labor 7 to operate interstate technological systems and the 8 electronic transmission of information and data for 9 State workforce agencies and employers. 10 (6) P AID LEAVE.—The term ‘‘paid leave’’ 11 means an increment of compensated leave that is 12 provided, in the case of a State program, by such 13 State or, in the case of an employer plan, by such 14 employer for use during a period in which such indi-15 vidual is not working due to a qualifying reason. 16 (7) Q UALIFYING REASON .—The term ‘‘quali-17 fying reason’’ means, in relation to an individual, a 18 reason described in subparagraphs (A) through (D) 19 of section 102(a)(1) of the Family and Medical 20 Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)) (applied 21 for purposes of this paragraph as if the individual 22 involved were the employee referred to in such sec-23 tion). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3090 IH (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Labor. 2 (9) S TATE FOCAL.—The term ‘‘State focal’’ 3 means, with respect to a State, an individual— 4 (A) designated by the State agency in 5 charge of such State’s paid family and medical 6 leave program to— 7 (i) participate in the I–PLAN; 8 (ii) lead such State’s efforts to adopt 9 and implement the I–PLAN Agreement; 10 and 11 (iii) communicate with key paid leave 12 stakeholders across the State; and 13 (B) who— 14 (i) is employed by such State’s paid 15 family and medical leave program; and 16 (ii) has knowledge, experience, and 17 authority in paid leave matters. 18 (10) S TATE PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE 19 PROGRAM.—The terms ‘‘State paid family and med-20 ical leave program’’ and ‘‘State program’’ mean a 21 program under State law that provides, during any 22 24-month period, a total of not less than 6 weeks of 23 paid leave to individuals— 24 (A) for each qualifying reason; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3090 IH (B) in aggregate. 1 SEC. 3. INTERSTATE PAID LEAVE ACTION NETWORK. 2 (a) I NGENERAL.— 3 (1) E STABLISHMENT.—There is established an 4 Interstate Paid Leave Action Network the purpose 5 of which is to provide support and incentives for the 6 development and adoption of an interstate agree-7 ment in accordance with this Act to benefit employ-8 ees, States, and employers by— 9 (A) facilitating streamlined benefit deliv-10 ery; 11 (B) reducing administrative burden; and 12 (C) coordinating and harmonizing State 13 programs. 14 (2) M EMBERSHIP.—The I–PLAN shall include 15 a State focal from each State receiving a conforming 16 grant under section 5(a). 17 (3) M EETINGS.—The I–PLAN shall meet not 18 less than 3 times in each calendar year. 19 (4) P ROCESSES.— 20 (A) C ERTIFICATION.—States shall certify 21 to the Secretary their participation in the I– 22 PLAN. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3090 IH (B) PROCEDURES.—State focals may de-1 termine, in coordination with the Secretary, the 2 process for the following: 3 (i) the order in which States approach 4 the substance of each I–PLAN require-5 ment; 6 (ii) the process by which States reach 7 consensus on such substance and agree to 8 the I–PLAN Agreement; 9 (iii) the process by which a State may 10 leave the I–PLAN; and 11 (iv) other processes relevant to the 12 success and administration of the I–PLAN 13 as the Secretary determines. 14 (5) R OADMAP.—The I–PLAN shall develop, 15 and annually update, a roadmap for developing and 16 implementing the interstate agreement described in 17 subsection (b) including metrics for success. 18 (b) D UTIES.—The duty of the I–PLAN shall be to 19 produce an interstate agreement into which States offer-20 ing a State paid family and medical leave program may 21 enter and to periodically update such agreement as nec-22 essary to improve clarity and scope. Such agreement shall 23 be publicly available and pursue each of the following re-24 quirements: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3090 IH (1) POLICY STANDARD.—Create a single policy 1 standard with respect to all participating States to 2 facilitate easier compliance with and understanding 3 of paid leave programs across States, including defi-4 nitions for the following: 5 (A) Benefit day, week, and year. 6 (B) Base period. 7 (C) Intermittent and reduced schedule 8 leave. 9 (D) Place of performance. 10 (E) Family members. 11 (F) Employee eligibility. 12 (G) Employee coverage. 13 (H) Waiting period. 14 (I) Covered wage. 15 (2) A DMINISTRATIVE STANDARD .—Create a sin-16 gle administrative standard with respect to all par-17 ticipating States to facilitate easier compliance with 18 and understanding of paid leave programs across 19 States, including— 20 (A) the process by which employers re-21 spond to requests from States to verify and pro-22 vide employee information for eligibility deter-23 minations, including wages and work history; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3090 IH (B) the process by which employers provide 1 periodic and permanent notice of the avail-2 ability of paid leave under a State program or 3 employer plan to employees; 4 (C) employees’ responsibility to provide no-5 tices of leave to their employers; 6 (D) timing of and process for collecting 7 payroll contributions; 8 (E) coordinating with other types of paid 9 time off and leaves of absence; 10 (F) continuing other benefits; 11 (G) accessing employee leave information; 12 (H) protecting personal information; 13 (I) creating and updating written leave 14 materials such as handbooks; 15 (J) maintaining records and documenta-16 tion; and 17 (K) if a State program permits employers 18 to elect to provide employer plans, facilitating 19 such election, including by creating a single 20 equivalency standard with respect to all partici-21 pating States to determine whether the max-22 imum monetary value of an employer plan for 23 the average weekly wage of workers in the State 24 for total covered establishments in all industries 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3090 IH (based on the most recent calendar year for 1 which data are available from the Quarterly 2 Census of Employment and Wages program of 3 the BLS) is greater than or equal to the max-4 imum monetary value of a State program (or 5 that of multiple States), taking into account 6 programmatic elements such as— 7 (i) how benefit duration, wage replace-8 ment, absence of a weekly benefit cap, ab-9 sence of a waiting week, and other factors 10 interact in a quantitative manner; and 11 (ii) how an individual taking paid 12 family and medical leave for a qualifying 13 reason affects the ability of such individual 14 to take paid family and medical leave for 15 another qualifying reason. 16 (3) C OORDINATION OF BENEFITS ACROSS 17 STATE PROGRAMS .—Create a single process for 18 State programs to process claims for an individual 19 who has work history across multiple participating 20 States so that a single State program may provide 21 benefits to such individual on the basis of all such 22 work history. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3090 IH SEC. 4. NATIONAL INTERMEDIARY TO SUPPORT THE 1 INTERSTATE PAID LEAVE ACTION NETWORK. 2 (a) A UTHORITYTOMAKEGRANTS.—Subject to the 3 availability of appropriations under section 6(a), the Sec-4 retary, acting through the Employment and Training Ad-5 ministration, shall award a grant to one national inter-6 mediary to facilitate the activities of the I–PLAN. 7 (b) U SE OFFUNDS.—A national intermediary award-8 ed a grant under subsection (a) shall use funds for the 9 costs related to each of the following: 10 (1) M EETINGS.—Meeting activities, including— 11 (A) convening the State focals as described 12 in section 3(a)(3), including reasonable travel, 13 transportation, and other expenses of State 14 focals and staff of the national intermediary 15 (and any necessary accompanying State per-16 sonnel); 17 (B) making publicly available information 18 on the agendas and outcomes of such meetings; 19 and 20 (C)(i) not later than 12 months after the 21 date of enactment of this Act, making publicly 22 available the roadmap described under section 23 3(a)(5); and 24 (ii) making any updates to such roadmap 25 publicly available. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3090 IH (2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Producing and making 1 publicly available on an annual basis a report that 2 compares State programs, including information 3 on— 4 (A) benefit eligibility; 5 (B) the maximum number of weeks an eli-6 gible employee is allowed to receive benefits— 7 (i) for each qualifying reason; and 8 (ii) in aggregate; 9 (C) wage replacement rate and how that 10 may vary based on prior earnings; 11 (D) maximum weekly benefit amount; 12 (E) how such programs are financed by 13 employees and employers, including the payroll 14 tax rate and amount of wages subject to tax; 15 (F) whether and how such programs allow 16 employers to provide employer plans, taking 17 into consideration elements such as— 18 (i) benefit payment timeliness; and 19 (ii) employer and employee adminis-20 trative complexity; 21 (G) whether and how such programs co-22 ordinate with other types of paid-time off and 23 leaves of absence; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3090 IH (H) the reasons, including qualifying rea-1 sons, under which an individual is eligible to 2 take paid family and medical leave; and 3 (I) other activities essential for the success, 4 effectiveness, and sustainability of the I–PLAN. 5 (3) O UTREACH AND COORDINATION .—Engage-6 ment, consulting, and gathering relevant information 7 in coordination with I–PLAN States from a wide 8 range of external stakeholders, including— 9 (A) State legislatures; 10 (B) Governors; 11 (C) employees; 12 (D) representatives of employers, includ-13 ing— 14 (i) employers with employees in mul-15 tiple States; and 16 (ii) employers with fewer than 50 em-17 ployees; 18 (E) self-employed individuals; 19 (F) policy experts and other organizations 20 with expertise on paid leave and unemployment 21 compensation programs; and 22 (G) Tribal governments. 23 (4) S TANDARDIZED AND INTEROPERABLE 24 TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM FOR WAGES .—Providing a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3090 IH standardized technology-based system to facilitate 1 States’ ability to carry out the I–PLAN Agreement, 2 allowing States to process interstate claims and 3 strengthen program integrity, that— 4 (A) adopts or leverages modular technology 5 that— 6 (i) ensures privacy, security, and 7 prompt data availability; 8 (ii) enhances and streamlines the 9 claimant, employer, and participating State 10 experience; and 11 (iii) is interoperable with other rel-12 evant State systems; and 13 (B) permits States to report on, to the ex-14 tent reasonable and technologically feasible, and 15 disaggregated by qualifying reason, on trends 16 such as— 17 (i) the number of initial and contin-18 ued benefit claims; 19 (ii) average duration of benefits; 20 (iii) average weekly benefit amount; 21 (iv) average time between filing a 22 claim and receiving an initial benefit pay-23 ment; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 3090 IH (v) the accuracy of benefit payment 1 amounts. 2 (5) A DDITIONAL USES.—Additional activities, 3 including— 4 (A) hiring and compensating staff; 5 (B) formulating guidance, recommenda-6 tions, and best practices for States; 7 (C) providing training on program admin-8 istration; 9 (D) providing technical assistance to 10 States; and 11 (E) creating or leveraging technology es-12 sential for the success and effectiveness of the 13 I–PLAN. 14 (c) D URATION OFAWARD.— 15 (1) I N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 16 the period during which payments are made to an 17 entity from an award of a grant under subsection 18 (a) shall be 5 years. 19 (2) C OMPLIANCE.—The Secretary shall annu-20 ally evaluate whether the national intermediary is 21 complying with the requirements of this Act and, if 22 the Secretary determines that the national inter-23 mediary is not so complying, shall withhold any pay-24 ment or part of the payment to the national inter-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 15 •HR 3090 IH mediary under this section for the following fiscal 1 year unless and until the Secretary determines the 2 national intermediary has remedied such compliance 3 issue. 4 (d) N ATIONALINTERMEDIARY OVERSIGHT.—The 5 Secretary shall— 6 (1) monitor the national intermediary to ensure 7 compliance with the requirements of this Act; 8 (2) provide technical assistance to assist the na-9 tional intermediary with such compliance; and 10 (3) require regular reports on the performance 11 of the national intermediary, including on the road-12 map under section 3(a)(5), the use of funds under 13 section 4(b), and other methods of evaluation. 14 SEC. 5. GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE STATES. 15 (a) C ONFORMINGGRANTS.— 16 (1) I N GENERAL.— 17 (A) A UTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS .—Sub-18 ject to the availability of appropriations under 19 section 6(b), the Secretary, acting through the 20 Employment and Training Administration, 21 shall, on an annual basis, make a conforming 22 grant to each eligible State. 23 (B) A MOUNT OF GRANT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 16 •HR 3090 IH (i) IN GENERAL.—A grant to an eligi-1 ble State under this subsection shall be— 2 (I) not less than $1,500,000 and 3 not more than $8,000,000; and 4 (II) subject to subclause (I), 5 awarded on the basis of the relative 6 annual level of employment (as pub-7 lished by the Current Employment 8 Statistics program of the BLS) of the 9 eligible State, compared to the annual 10 level of employment in all eligible 11 States. 12 (ii) A DJUSTMENT.—The amounts 13 specified in clause (i) shall be ratably in-14 creased or decreased to the extent that 15 funds available under section 6(b) exceed 16 or are less than (respectively) the amount 17 required to provide the amounts specified 18 in clause (i). 19 (2) E LIGIBLE STATES.— 20 (A) I N GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 21 a grant under paragraph (1), a State shall— 22 (i) have a State focal; and 23 (ii) participate in the I–PLAN in good 24 faith. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 17 •HR 3090 IH (B) GOOD FAITH REQUIREMENT .— 1 (i) W ITHHOLDING.—If the Secretary, 2 in consultation with the national inter-3 mediary awarded the grant under section 4 4(a), determines that a State is not par-5 ticipating in the I–PLAN in good faith, 6 the Secretary— 7 (I) shall provide warning and 8 feedback to States in a prompt man-9 ner; and 10 (II) if, six months after the date 11 on which the Secretary provides such 12 warning and feedback, the Secretary 13 determines such State continues not 14 to participate in the I–PLAN in good 15 faith, the Secretary may elect to with-16 hold a portion or the total amount of 17 a grant under paragraph (1) to such 18 State. 19 (ii) R ESTORATION.—If the Secretary 20 elects to withhold an amount from a State 21 under clause (i)(II), the Secretary may 22 later elect to provide the amount so with-23 held to such State if the Secretary later 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 18 •HR 3090 IH determines that such State is participating 1 in good faith. 2 (b) I MPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 3 (1) I N GENERAL.— 4 (A) A UTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS .—Sub-5 ject to the availability of appropriations under 6 section 6(c), the Secretary, acting through the 7 Employment and Training Administration, 8 shall, on an annual basis, make an implementa-9 tion grant to each eligible State. 10 (B) A MOUNT OF GRANT.— 11 (i) I N GENERAL.—A grant to an eligi-12 ble State under this subsection shall be— 13 (I) not less than $1,500,000 and 14 not more than $8,000,000; and 15 (II) subject to subclause (I), 16 awarded on the basis of the relative 17 annual level of employment (as pub-18 lished by Current Employment Statis-19 tics program of the BLS) of the eligi-20 ble State, compared to the annual 21 level of employment in all eligible 22 States. 23 (ii) A DJUSTMENT.—The amounts 24 specified in clause (i) shall be ratably in-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 19 •HR 3090 IH creased or decreased to the extent that 1 funds available under section 6(c) exceed 2 or are less than (respectively) the amount 3 required to provide the amounts specified 4 in clause (i). 5 (2) E LIGIBILITY.— 6 (A) I N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-7 graph (B), to be eligible to receive a grant 8 under paragraph (1), a State shall— 9 (i) meet the requirements of sub-10 section (a)(2)(A); and 11 (ii) have entered into the I–PLAN 12 Agreement. 13 (B) L IMITATION.—A State described in 14 subparagraph (A) shall be ineligible to receive a 15 grant for any fiscal year beginning after the 16 date that is 4 years after the date on which 17 such State enters into the I–PLAN Agreement 18 in which such State does not meet the require-19 ments of such Agreement. 20 (c) U SE OFFUNDS.—A State may use grants re-21 ceived under this section— 22 (1) to help pay administrative costs, including 23 costs related to— 24 (A) customer service; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 20 •HR 3090 IH (B) staffing and training; 1 (C) technology; 2 (D) data sharing; 3 (E) identity validation; and 4 (F) program awareness; and 5 (2) to help small businesses, as defined by the 6 State, afford employer payroll contributions or ac-7 cess other forms of technical and operational assist-8 ance related to State paid family and medical leave. 9 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 10 (a) N ATIONALINTERMEDIARY GRANT.—There are 11 authorized to be appropriated not more than $10,000,000 12 for the purposes of section 4 for each of fiscal years 2026 13 through 2028. 14 (b) C ONFORMINGGRANTS.—There are authorized to 15 be appropriated not more than $40,000,000 for the pur-16 poses of section 5(a) for each of fiscal years 2026 through 17 2028. 18 (c) I MPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—There are author-19 ized to be appropriated not more than $40,000,000 for 20 the purposes of section 5(b) for each of fiscal years 2026 21 through 2028. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 May 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS