Less than 2 months before the end of his governance, John Bel Edwards announced in a press conference outside of the Woman’s Hospital that Louisiana would be joining 32 other states in the U.S. who offer paid parental leave to employees.

Starting at the beginning of next year, Louisiana - which has over 70,000 employees - will now offer paid parental leave to government employees who have worked within the state for at least a year. This policy allows six weeks of fully paid leave within 12 weeks of the birth or adoption of a child. This policy also applies to parents of all genders.

The policy doesn’t apply to all employees though. Individuals who work for the Louisiana Legislature, state courts, or unclassified faculty in higher education will not have access to these benefits. This is because the governor and State Civil Service Commission do not have the authority to extend benefits to those specific branches of government. Many have begun to question just how much this new policy will cost the state as information about the figures associated with this new practice were not available at the time of announcement.

Edwards mentioned that he had not discussed this decision with incominggovernor Jeff Landry before putting the policy in place. Edwards instead put the portion of parental leave benefits which applies to unclassified state workers in place with a gubernatorial executive order. Landry, who takes office just one week after the policy is set to take effect, could immediately reverse this order once sworn into office.

However, the portion of the policy that refers to classified employees will be much harder for Landry to reverse. The State Civil Service Commission would have to convene and agree to undo the last action made by the outgoing-governor - which is very unlikely to happen.