Essentially forgotten

Family Forward and others also pushed for more than a decade for the recently enacted paid family and medical leave law and a statewide paid sick time law. Those protections, though, don't kick in until 2023, said Family Forward's Paluso.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act enacted by Congress also comes up short Paluso said. It includes loopholes that leave out wide swaths of essential workers from sick leave, including exemptingcompanies with more than 500 employees, certain employers with fewer than 50 employees, and emergency response and health care workers.

In April, Family Forward hosted a town hall meeting with Sens. Merkley and Ron Wyden, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, working families and child care providers. The intent was to highlight what the lawmakers agree is a child care crisis in Oregon and to demand public money to subsidize child care providers during Covid.