Kamin on Houston's first-ever paid parental leave policy: 'It’s time, and I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to do this'

The Houston City Council unanimously approved the city's first-ever paid parental leave policy on Wednesday (April 13), according to a report from Houston CBS affiliate KHOU. 

Per Houston City Councilwoman Abbie Kamin, the policy is a godsend for city employees who become new parents. 

Kamin, an attorney by profession who was elected to the city council in 2019, herself welcomed a baby boy last year, the station reported.

“I don’t qualify for FMLA because city council employees are technically part-time, but I was saying, ‘How can a city employee go through this?’” she said, per KHOU.

Kamin said the policy is rooted in not just her experience but those of "countless other women," the station reported.

"We’ve interviewed at every level at the city," the councilwoman told KHOU. “This should have been done long ago. It’s time, and I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to do this.”

Previously, city workers who were expecting either could dig into their sick or vacation time or go on off days without pay.

KHOU reported that the new policy allows 22,000 employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to tend to a delivery, an adoption or a foster situation and will go into effect next month.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the policy enables the city to keep and draw top talent "while supporting families and children." 

"The city is able to offer these new benefits with no budgetary impact to the city as the hours approved under this ordinance are already included in the annual budgeted personnel costs," Turner said in a statement obtained by KHOU.