OLIVER MORRISON/匹兹堡公共新闻源 在阿勒格尼县议会今晚通过了全国首个此类政策后，该县许多员工很快将有资格获得长达12周的带薪育儿假。
OLIVER MORRISON/Pittsburgh’s Public Source Many employees in Allegheny County will soon be eligible to receive up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave after council this evening passed the first policy of its kind in the country.
该政策将在县行政长官萨拉·伊纳莫拉托签署法案一年后生效。周二通过的这项法案，此前经历了六个月的分歧，主要是在商业团体一方与医护人员及父母另一方之间。周二到场发言的数十位额外发言者中，绝大多数支持该措施，他们往往以令人心碎的细节描述育儿的挑战。
The policy will go into effect one year after County Executive Sara Innamorato signs the bill. The bill advanced Tuesday follows six months of disagreement largely between business groups on one side and healthcare workers and parents on the other . The vast majority of the dozens of additional speakers who showed up Tuesday to comment spoke in favor of the measure, oftentimes describing the challenges of parenting in wrenching detail.
拥有15名或以上员工的企业将被要求提供该假期。在收到1400多条公众意见后，员工数量门槛作为对小企业的让步被加入法案——假期时长也从18周缩短至12周。
Businesses with 15 or more employees will be required to offer the leave. The employee count requirement was added as a concession to small businesses — and the length of the leave was shortened from 18 weeks — after the county received more than 1,400 public comments .
尽管如此，这项新政策标志着伊纳莫拉托的一大胜利，她在分享自己怀孕经历的同时倡导该法案通过。在最终投票前几周，伊纳莫拉托与支持者举行了多场公开活动，而商业团体上周发布的一项调查显示，有400多家企业反对这项新政策。
Still, the new policy marks a major victory for Innamorato, who advocated for its passage while sharing her own experience of pregnancy . In the weeks before the final vote, Innamorato held several public events with supporters, while business groups released a survey last week showing that more than 400 businesses oppose the new policy.
伊纳莫拉托在一份声明中说：“通过全国首个县级带薪育儿假政策，我们表明我们认真对待在工人及其家庭生命中经济和医疗上最脆弱的时刻保护他们。”
“By passing the first county-level paid parental leave policy in the country, we’re showing that we’re serious about protecting workers and their families at one of the most economically and medically vulnerable times in their lives,” Innamorato said in a statement.
这是全国首个作为公共卫生措施通过的带薪育儿假政策。政治专家告诉《公共新闻源》，该政策可能会被紫州和红州那些州层面没有自身政策的城市和县效仿。
It is the first paid parental leave policy in the country passed as a public health measure. Political experts told Public Source that the policy could be emulated by cities and counties in purple and red states that don’t have their own policies at the state level.
露西·罗斯·鲁乔抱着六周大的婴儿，敦促议会“抓住这一历史时刻”，投票通过一项将“产生多年深远影响”的政策。这项政策是全美第二个将全部成本负担由企业承担的育儿假政策，也是首个确保父母在12周假期内获得100%收入的政策。已有政策的14个由民主党主导的州，在休假期间支付父母收入的50%至90%。阿勒格尼县每周最高4200美元的给付额度，慷慨程度是现有任何州政策的两倍多。
Lucy Rose Ruccio, holding her six-week-old baby, urged the council to “seize this historic moment” and vote for a policy that would “reverberate for years to come.”It is only the second parental leave policy in the country to put the entire cost burden on businesses , and it’s the first to ensure that parents receive 100% of their incomes for 12 weeks. The 14 Democratic-led states that already have policies pay between 50% and 90% of a parent’s income while on leave. Allegheny County’s maximum weekly payout of $4,200 is more than twice as generous as any existing state policy.
议员帕特·卡特纳表示，议会应等待哈里斯堡（宾夕法尼亚州首府，指州政府）采取行动，因为该政策可能推高托儿和医疗成本，最终由家庭买单。“我们本意要帮助的那些家庭，最终可能要付出代价，”卡特纳说。“我们的责任不是通过立法，而是采取在实践中行之有效、并能保护本地经济的政策。”
Councilor Pat Catena said the council should wait for Harrisburg to act because the policy could drive up costs for childcare and healthcare, which families would end up paying. “The very families we intend to help could end up paying the price,” Catena said. “Our responsibility is not to pass legislation but to adopt policies that work in practice and protect our local economy.”
议会卫生委员会主席保罗·克莱因表示，该县不能等待联邦或州政府采取行动。“在阿勒格尼县，我们认定这是一项道德义务，”他说。“如果不由我们来做，谁来做？如果不现在做，还要等到何时？”该政策适用于生育父母及其配偶、领养父母以及经历死产的父母。一名发言人举起她在医院去世的婴儿照片，这是几个扣人心弦的故事之一，议员约翰·帕尔米耶表示这些故事帮助说服他支持该法案。帕尔米耶的一个孙辈死于婴儿床中。
Paul Klein, the chair of the council’s health committee, said the county couldn’t wait for federal or state action. “In Allegheny County we have decided that it is a moral imperative,” he said. “If we don’t do this, who will? And if not now, when?”The policy applies to both birthing parents and their spouses, to parents who adopt and to parents who experience a stillbirth. One speaker held up a picture of her infant who died in the hospital, one of several wrenching stories that Councilor John Palmiere said helped persuade him to support the bill. One of Palmiere’s grandchildren died in his crib.
“今晚真的深深触动了我，”帕尔米耶说。“我对其中一些问题和这项条例曾有过疑虑。……但你知道：那又怎样？”帕尔米耶投了赞成票。经过三小时的发言和讨论，最终表决结果为11票赞成、4票反对，随后法院的“金厅”响起起立鼓掌。
“Tonight really really hit home for me,” Palmiere said. “I’ve had my doubts about some of these issues and this ordinance. … You know what: So what?”Palmiere voted yes. After three hours of comments and discussion, the final vote was 11 in favor and four opposed, followed by a standing ovation in the courthouse’s Gold Room.
匹兹堡地区联盟（Pittsburgh Regional Alliance）是一个致力于推动商业发展的组织，他们迅速发表了一份声明，指出这项法规“削弱了我们地区吸引投资、留住人才以及创造就业机会的能力”，并“营造了一种反竞争的环境，使我们的雇主在竞争中处于明显劣势，相对于邻近的县和其他地区来说尤为不利”。
The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, a business advocacy organization, promptly issued a statement saying the mandate “weakens our region’s ability to attract investments, retain talent, and grow jobs” and “creates an anti-competitive environment that places our employers at a distinct disadvantage compared to neighboring counties and regional peers.”
几位委员会成员表示，他们早就意识到该法规存在问题，认为县政府必须在问题显现后及时进行调整。委员会成员凯瑟琳·麦当娜-埃默林（Kathleen Madonna-Emmerling）说：“随着我们进入实施阶段，肯定会遇到一些意想不到的问题，我们会妥善处理这些问题的。”
Several council members said they knew there were problems with the legislation as written and that the county would have to adjust as problems became apparent. “As we move into the implementation phase, there will be issues that arise that are unexpected,” said councilor Kathleen Madonna-Emmerling. “We will deal with them.”