TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida faith leaders called Tuesday for the legislature's majority Republicans to act on bills to mandate paid parental leave and deliver tax cuts to low-income workers, calling passage of both a "moral imperative."

  • Faith in Public Life group's pastors spoke at the Capitol
  • Legislation on proposals a nonstarter with Republican majority
  • More Florida Politics stories

Joining with Democratic lawmakers at the Capitol, the pastors representing the Faith in Public Life advocacy group criticized Republicans for failing to hear the proposals in past legislative sessions.

"We hear them, day in and day out, talk about what moral Christian people they are," said Rev. Joe Parramore. "However, when it comes to that decision-making period and decision-making time of 'what's in it for me versus what's in it for the citizens of Florida,' they struggle with that session after session after session."

The legislation to require Florida companies give employees three months of paid parental leave has proven to be a nonstarter with Republican leaders, who have worked to nurture a culture of deregulation in the name of economic development.

"The greater the government involvement in something, the less that there's true free market, the less that there's competition, and the higher that price goes up," House Speaker Jose Oliva (R-Miami) has said of the philosophy.

But the pastors called the approach out of step with the Bible's teachings about societal obligations to protect the vulnerable.

"I think there's a morality issue in this state House that we as people of faith must call out and speak to and speak loudly to, that if you profess with your mouth that you are a person of faith, then you need to walk in that profession and not just talk about it," Parramore said.

As with the paid parental leave proposal, legislation to extend a tax cut to Floridians who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit has failed to advance in this year's legislative session.