On March 7, the Anchorage Assembly will hear public testimony on AO 2023-20, an ordinance to enact a paid parental leave benefit for municipal employees.
The ordinance comes up for a hearing just two weeks after the Assembly installed Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples’ Day as new paid holidays, adding a net of two additional paid days off for municipal workers. It brings the total holiday schedule to 13, plus employees’ personal leave days. And now, more time off for new parents.
Sponsored by Assembly Members Austin Quinn-Davidson, Meg Zaletel and Chair Suzanne LaFrance, AO 2023-20 would formalize four continuous weeks of paid leave to new parents and guardians working for the municipality. The policy applies to new mothers, fathers, and legal guardians.
The costs to the city could be in the millions of dollars but the Assembly has given no fiscal transparency to this ordinance. The municipal budget, although it received vetoes from Mayor Dave Bronson, had several million added to it by the Assembly and now stands at about $584 million for this year, the largest operating budget in Anchorage history.
Quinn-Davidson served as the unelected temporary mayor after Mayor Ethan Berkowitz left office in a hurry in 2020, after after getting caught in a still-unclear relationship with a reporter. Quinn-Davidson, upon realizing that Dave Bronson had won the mayor’s race in 2021, hastily enacted the family leave policy, because her chosen candidate, Forrest Dunbar, did not win that race. Bronson rescinded it when he came into office.
“This policy is years in the making and long overdue,” said Assembly Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance. “In 2020, the Assembly authorized the adoption of a parental leave policy, and after more than eight months of research, development and assessment by municipal departments and stakeholders, the former Quinn-Davidson Administration adopted this very policy. The mayor rescinded the policy within weeks of taking office and the municipal workforce felt the burden of that hasty, short-sighted decision.”
The proposed ordinance is available to view online at this link.
Options to testify:
Provide testimony during the meeting at the Loussac Library Assembly Chambers.
Sign up to provide testimony during the meeting by phone: ancgov.info/testify.
Provide written testimony: ancgov.info/testify.
Email Assembly members: [email protected]
