So I belong to a local Brooklyn Yahoo group and I just found out that there has been la bill introduced to get paid family leave. I just went on the momsrising.org site and it is pretty interesting. Here is the posting that I read from the yahoo group:

"For anyone interested in the status of the paid
> family leave in NY
> State:
>
> Through the efforts of MomsRising.org and other
> groups, NY State
> legislators have received over 10,000 letters
> advocating for paid
> leave.
>
> The Assembly passed the bill and Governor Spitzer
> has indicated that he
> would sign it into law. Unfortunately, the Senate
> did not take up paid
> family leave in their special session last month.
>
> If you want to send a pre-written letter to your
> Senators about this,
> you can do so by going on the MomsRising.org
> website. There is also a
> direct link to the letter:
>
>
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/campaig
> n.jsp?campaign_KEY=12381
>
> It takes under 5 minutes to go to the site and enter
> your address and
> communicate directly to elected officials.
>