DES MOINES, Iowa -- New research suggests access to emergency paid leave could help limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Supporters of a broader paid-time-off proposal say it's needed in states such as Iowa, where there is no such requirement.

The study, led by Cornell University and the Swiss Economic Institute, said states with access to emergency paid leave during the crisis have seen 400 fewer COVID cases per day.

Dawn Huckelbridge, director of the Paid Leave for All campaign, demands the U.S. Senate vote on a relief bill from the House that would extend and make bigger temporary protections.

They are set to expire in December, and Huckelbridge said the time to act is now.

"The United States is one of the only countries in the whole world that has no kind of national paid-leave policy," Huckelbridge explained. "That's been a crisis in the making for quite some time. But that meant that when the pandemic hit, over 33 million of us did not have access to a single guaranteed paid sick day."

There is no Iowa law requiring private employers to provide sick leave, paid or unpaid, although many of them do offer the benefit.

Opponents of a paid leave policy, including some business groups, say it would create substantial costs for employers.

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he isn't willing to allow for a vote on a new relief bill until after the election.

Sue Dinsdale, executive director of the Iowa Citizen Action Network, said having a broader national policy is crucial for the state, especially since the current federal protections exempt businesses with 500 or more employees.

And she noted it's harder on women, who make up nearly half of the state's workforce.

"I spoke with a mother the other day who was caring for her children and her father and she used up the time that she could, and ended up having to leave her job in order to care for both generations of her family," Dinsdale described.

And Dinsdale added more of those scenarios could play out during the crisis, given Iowa's aging population.

She and the group are calling out Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst for voting against certain leave proposals by releasing ads in the state.

Ernst did not respond to a request for comment.

A poll by Paid Leave for All Action and Global Strategy Group found 85% of respondents in battleground states said they supported paid leave during COVID-19 and beyond.


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As Nebraska state lawmakers convene for a special session on property tax reform called by Gov. Jim Pillen, groups are weighing in on the details Pillen has released so far.

The governor's goal is to cut property taxes by 40% to 50%, which includes the state taking over funding of K-through-12 schools. A majority of the additional revenue needed would come from higher sales taxes and/or eliminating sales-tax exemptions for around 100 goods and services.

Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen said the governor's plan is missing one leg of the "three-legged tax reform stool" - income taxes - which he said puts legislators in a difficult position.

"By taking income taxes off the table," he said, "the governor has already limited the Legislature's ability to come up with a solution to the property tax problem that leaves our state with a more fair and balanced tax system, that is also more widely supported by citizens."

Hansen said he fears the governor's approach will cause state sales taxes to be "out of balance" and regressive - with lower-income earners paying a larger portion of their income in sales taxes than those will higher incomes. Property tax reform has been a priority of the Nebraska Farmers Union for more than three decades.

Hansen said Pillen pushed for income tax cuts for individuals and corporations in the last legislative session, despite there being no "outcry" for income tax relief.

"If you add up the first three years of those combined income tax cuts," he said, "it more than equals the amount of additional revenue that the governor needs to fund the property tax reductions that he wants."

In addition to placing a higher burden on low-income Nebraskans, Hansen argued the governor's plan would give a huge benefit to some of the state's wealthiest residents.

"For the folks who own large amounts of property and also make large amounts of income, the governor's giving them a double tax-cut benefit," he said. "He substanstially lowers both their property taxes and their income taxes, and these are the folks who already have most of the wealth."

According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, Pillen's property tax plan would save him nearly $1 million a year in property taxes.

The Keystone State continues offering a favorable landscape for Pennsylvanians seeking employment opportunities.

Claire Kovach, senior research analyst at the Keystone Research Center, said the steady trend has been ongoing for months, with the rate hovering below the national average of 4.1% during the past year.

"Pennsylvania is on a roll," Kovach asserted. "We added, I think, 15,600 jobs in June, and that's 11 months straight now that Pennsylvania has added jobs. The data we got showed that Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is still quite low through 3.4%, and it's been at that or around that for over a year now."

Kovach pointed out inflation is falling as nominal wages are growing steadily and the persistence of the combined effects is helping the labor market recover. She noted the number of nonfarm jobs rose to a record high of more than six million.

Kovach emphasized the largest increase in jobs in June was in education and health services.

"There's just some of the jobs that are most in demand," Kovach observed. "Jobs, especially like in health services, are consistently projected to be some of the most in-demand jobs over the next years and decades, especially in Pennsylvania. I believe leisure and hospitality also reached a record high in June."

Kovach added as the economy improves and nears full employment, the jobless rate will not continue to drop forever. It is expected to gradually stabilize at a low level, with the lowest so far at 3.2%.

A coalition of South Dakota groups is voicing its opposition to a ballot measure intended to end a state sales tax on consumables.

If passed this November, Initiated Measure 28 would repeal the state's 4.2% sales tax on "anything sold for human consumption," including food and other products from toothpaste to tobacco, CBD and vaping products.

Sandra Waltman, director of public affairs for the South Dakota Education Association, said the teachers union opposes the repeal because it does not include a plan to replace the money the current tax contributes to education.

"Our main reason for opposing this is the lack of a plan for replacing the $176 million and what that will do, not only for K-12 students but for higher education," Waltman explained. "Districts would probably be looking at a very bare-bones budget."

Currently, Waltman said about 60% of public school funding comes from state coffers, and the other 40% from local property taxes. She called the potential effect on education "drastic," saying they could lead to fewer teachers, larger class sizes and cuts to newer resources like mental health support and programs for career and technical education.

Proponents of the measure said repealing the tax could help the nearly 9% of South Dakotans who are food insecure but Waltman countered the same people would likely feel the effects of underfunded school systems.

"To repeal one tax without a more broad conversation about how you replace that revenue is shortsighted, and we think you shouldn't just be repealing a tax without a plan."

Other groups opposing the measure include the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, South Dakotans Against a State Income Tax and the South Dakota Farm Bureau.