California Senate Bill SB590

California 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/20/25
• Refer: 3/5/25
• Refer: 4/3/25
• Report Pass: 4/9/25
• Refer: 4/9/25
• Report Pass: 5/23/25
• Engrossed: 5/28/25
• Refer: 6/5/25
• Report Pass: 7/9/25
• Refer: 7/9/25
• Report Pass: 8/29/25
• Enrolled: 9/10/25
• Chaptered: 10/13/25
• Passed: 10/13/25

Caption

An act to amend, repeal, and add Sections 3301, 3302, and 3303 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to disability compensation, and making an appropriation therefor.

Summary

SB 590 expands California’s Paid Family Leave program within the State Disability Insurance system to cover leave taken to care for a “designated person,” in addition to the family members already covered under existing law. A designated person is defined as a care recipient related by blood or someone whose relationship with the worker is equivalent to a family relationship. The bill preserves the program’s existing structure: eligible workers may receive wage-replacement benefits for up to eight weeks in a 12-month period, subject to the same claim-filing rules, benefit calculations, and certification requirements that apply to other family care leave claims. The bill is phased in, with the new designated-person eligibility becoming operative on July 1, 2028. It also requires a first-time claimant seeking benefits for a designated person to identify that person and, under penalty of perjury, attest either to the blood relationship or to the family-like nature of the relationship. The measure makes conforming changes to the definitions of “family care leave” and “family member,” and it authorizes expenditures from the continuously appropriated disability fund, making it an appropriation bill.

Impact

SB 590 amends Sections 3301, 3302, and 3303 of the Unemployment Insurance Code and adds new operative versions of those sections effective July 1, 2028. In practical terms, it broadens eligibility for paid family leave benefits under the state disability insurance program to include care for a designated person, while leaving the existing benefit duration, wage-replacement formula, and administrative claim process largely intact. The bill also creates a new attestation requirement for first-time designated-person claims, which expands the scope of perjury-related disclosures in this context. Because it authorizes payments from the continuously appropriated Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund for the expanded benefit category, it has fiscal effects and is treated as an appropriation.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been broadly supported throughout the legislative process. Committee and floor votes were overwhelmingly favorable, with multiple unanimous votes and only one recorded dissenting vote in the available history. The absence of committee transcript material limits insight into detailed debate, but the voting pattern suggests general agreement with expanding paid family leave access to reflect nontraditional family and caregiving relationships.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the expansion of eligibility beyond traditional family members to a designated person, which raises questions about how to define and verify a family-like relationship. The bill addresses that concern by requiring a first-time claimant to identify the designated person and attest under penalty of perjury to the relationship, whether by blood or by equivalent family association. That verification requirement is also the basis for the bill’s state-mandated local program designation, though the bill states no reimbursement is required. No other significant opposition is evident in the available voting record.