On Thursday, April 11, working Nevadans, families, and small business owners came together in front of the state’s Senate Commerce and Labor committee to testify and advocate for the earned paid sick days bill, SB312. With this senate bill, Nevadans would have the right to earn paid sick days and finally be able to put their health and the health of their families first. More than 430,000 children in Nevada live in families in which all parents work, yet too often parents cannot use the sick days they earn to care for their children.

At the committee hearing, Make the Road NV (MRNV) organizers Bianca Balderas and Jose Macias shared stories of their own family members being affected by the inability to earn paid time off to take care of themselves when they fell ill. Jose lost his mother because she couldn’t afford to put her health first. Like most working families, she needed to support her family and ignored all the warning signs of the stroke she had while working, and later passed away as a tragic consequence. Families are unknowingly risking their own lives going to work to provide for their families.

Individuals, working families, and small businesses understand the need for earned paid days, and with no opposition, the Nevada Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted the paid sick days bill out of committee unanimously at the end of the hearing! The bill now moves to the senate floor to be heard again with new amendments being written into the bill that will hopefully expand to cover even more of Nevada’s workforce.

MRNV, as part of the statewide Time to Care NV coalition made up of 24 organizations, will continue to lift the voices of working families and urge elected officials to support SB312 when it gets introduced again later this year. We invite you to get involved by signing up here to share your own story, be notified of the next bus trip to Nevada’s state capitol, or join MRNV at a hearing in Las Vegas.