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SB 523

State Employees - Cancer Screening - Paid Leave

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Nick Charles

SB 523 provides up to 4 hours of paid cancer screening leave per 12 months for all state employees, with SBM rulemaking by July 1, 2025 and agency HR/payroll updates.

Hearing 3/25 at 1:00 p.m.
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Bill Summary · SB 523

Summary — SB 523: State Employees — Cancer Screening — Paid Leave

Status: Hearing scheduled 3/25 at 1:00 p.m.
Introduced: December 3, 2024
Sponsor: Senator Charles (designated cross‑file HB 914 — Delegates Vogel & Wolek)
Effective date (as drafted): July 1, 2025

Purpose / Intent

To ensure State employees have a specific, paid leave entitlement to obtain cancer screening, with the goal of supporting early detection and employee health while establishing uniform statewide procedures and regulatory oversight.

Key provisions

  • Entitlement: Authorizes an employee to use up to 4 hours of paid cancer screening leave in any 12‑month period.
  • Covered employees: Applies to all State employees, explicitly including temporary and part‑time employees, across executive, judicial, and legislative branches (and units with independent personnel systems).
  • Approval and procedures: Use of the leave is subject to approval by the employee’s appointing authority.
  • Rulemaking: The Secretary of Budget and Management is required to adopt regulations governing cancer screening leave, including conditions and procedures for requesting and approving the leave.
  • Implementation date: Provisions take effect July 1, 2025 (per the bill text).

Who is affected

  • Directly: State government employees (full‑time, part‑time, and temporary) who need time for cancer screening.
  • Indirectly: State agencies (human resources and payroll) — responsible for processing requests, implementing procedures, training staff, and making any necessary personnel system configuration changes.

Fiscal and operational impact

  • Fiscal: The Department of Budget and Management estimates a likely minimal increase in State expenditures beginning in FY 2026, primarily from overtime or other coverage costs when employees are away for screening. State revenues are not affected.
  • Utilization note: DBM observed roughly 20,000 employees used State health insurance for cancer screening in the prior year — indicating substantial potential take‑up — but most agencies already budget regular salaries and may not hire temporary replacements.
  • Administrative: Agencies will need to:
    • Train HR personnel on the new leave type.
    • Update leave tracking/payroll systems and policies.
    • The Secretary’s regulations may further define eligibility/approval conditions, which could moderate costs.
  • Potential offsets: Earlier detection could reduce State health insurance costs over time (State is largely self‑insured), but any savings are speculative and not quantified in the fiscal note.

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Rulemaking: Secretary of Budget and Management must promulgate implementing regulations prior to or concurrent with effective date.
  • Legislative process: Cross‑filed as HB 914; fiscal note prepared; committee hearing(s) are part of the record.

Tradeoffs / considerations

  • Small, time‑limited paid leave (4 hours/year) balances access to preventive care with limited operational disruption, but agencies may experience localized coverage burdens depending on staffing patterns.
  • The regulatory phase will determine practical access (notice, documentation, scheduling windows) and thus affect both utilization and fiscal consequences.

If you want, I can:
- Draft a one‑page talking points memo for agency HR directors on implementing the leave; or
- Extract and summarize the specific regulatory questions the Secretary will likely need to resolve.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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