Gov. Jared Polis Proposes Expanding Benefits To Keep State Employees

DENVER (CBS4)- Gov. Jared Polis wants to expand the benefits for state workers. He said Colorado needs to in order to retain a talented workforce.

Police showed off highlights of his new budget on Friday. He wants to expand family and medical leave to eight weeks at a cost of $10 million.

Right now, state workers only get paid for parental leave. If they want to care for a partner or parent, they must take off work unpaid.

"We feel it's an important tool in attracting and retaining people to work for the state. Again, that's why many, particularly large private sector employers do this, but also many medium-sized ones, the state has a 30,000 person workforce. We are behind on keeping up with benefits that people can get elsewhere," said Polis.

That's only part of Polis' nearly $35 billion budget. He also wants more money for education, $550 million for transportation, $9 million to close private prisons, and he also wants to increase state reserves.