This is from the Santa Maria Times (Link):
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson,D-Santa Barbara, meant to strengthen the state’s Paid Family Leave Program by allowing workers to receive benefits while caring for seriously ill grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and in-laws, her office announced Tuesday. The law becomes effective on July 1, 2014.In 2002, California became the first state in the country with a comprehensive Paid Family Leave Program to provide partial pay to workers taking time off to care for seriously ill family members or to bond with a new child. Funded entirely by employee payroll deductions through an expansion of the State Disability Insurance (SDI) system, Paid Family Leave provides up to six weeks of partial wage replacement benefits per year.Existing law on the issue only covers leave to care for a parent, child, spouse or registered domestic partner. In other words, employees may not receive benefits to care for an ill sibling, grandparent, grandchild or parent-in-law.Senate Bill 770 expands the definition of family to reflect more accurately the caregiving responsibilities of families in California, which has the second-highest percentage of multigenerational households in the country.
