Republican state Sen. Joe Fain, the prime sponsor of the measure that passed last year, said Microsoft's decision was "a really powerful step forward."

By applying the plan to contractors and vendors around the country, "it really creates a pressure for those state legislatures to make a similar decision that Washington made."

Republican Senator Joe Fain of Washington State has an MBA and an undergraduate degree in Political Science. He’s been in the Senate since 2010 and has  been both the Minority and Majority floor leader. Joe was the prime sponsor of the landmark legislation to create a statewide paid family and medical leave program by convening a bipartisan group of lawmakers and business and labor leaders.  

Joe Fain, Republican state senator for Washington. Prime sponsor of a bill that passed into law last week, guaranteeing paid family leave in the state. 

The Washington Legislature on Friday approved a paid family leave program that offers workers paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child or for the serious medical condition of the worker or the worker’s family member.

Sen. Joe Fain, R-Auburn and the Senate majority floor leader, said passing the bill was a priority for him this year, as well as for Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, the new chairwoman of the Senate Health Care Committee.

“I want to lower barriers to contraception for a number of reasons,” Fain said. “One, so that women can have more control over those choices, but also because there are plenty of times that women and young woman in particular need that medication for other reasons related to medical care.”

“It’s really difficult if you’re tethered to a three-month supply.”

Bill Radke talks to state Senator Joe Fain (R-Auburn) about the bipartisan Senate bill he is working on with Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Burien) that would require paid family and sick leave in Washington state. 

“We have to lower the barriers to women having access to reproductive health care,” said state Sen. Joe Fain, R-Auburn, the majority floor leader in the Senate who is a co-sponsor of both bills.

“One of the easiest ways to do that is to take a medicine and a technology that has been around for decades, that has proven to be safe, that is used by millions of women each year, and make it easier for them to access it,” Fain said.