“Ultimately, the FAMILY Act would create a giant new entitlement program that can’t cover its costs,” Fischer said. “Instead, we need to find creative ways to incentivize businesses to provide these benefits to the workers who need them.”

With federal action unlikely soon, some states have looked at creating their own programs. Three — California, New Jersey and Rhode Island — offer paid family and medical leave funded through payroll taxes and administered by the states’ existing disability programs.

In Nebraska, State Sen. Sue Crawford proposed legislation to create a similar system in which the state would establish the infrastructure and workers would pay premiums into the fund.

She said those premiums are estimated to be less than $2 a week to provide partial wage replacement, thanks to a big pool of workers.

The biggest concern she’s heard about the proposal is that employers would have a hard time coping with employees who take that time off. But she expressed hope that new businesses would spring up offering temporary fill-in workers, much the way substitute teachers work now.

Crawford also said she hopes people recognize that paid family leave is for more than parents with newborn children.