OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A blueprint for running the state's paid family leave program has been shelved by its proponents, who say they'll handle the details in the upcoming state budget.

Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, said she and a fellow Democrat, Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson of Seattle, decided to pull the bill because they feared Republicans would use up valuable floor time Tuesday debating the merits of the overall program, which became law last year.

"There's still a fight against the fundamentals of the program," Keiser said. "Rather than go through that exercise we decided to try and make it easy."

Lawmakers had until 5 p.m. Tuesday to get bills voted off the floor of the house of origin.

Under the law that the Legislature passed last session, starting in October 2009, workers will get as much as $250 a week for as long as five weeks to care for a newborn or a newly adopted child.

The House releases its proposed budget on Wednesday; the Senate is scheduled to release its budget next week. Those budgets will reflect the recommendations of a task force that was created to decide the particulars of the program, including who should run it, how to minimize costs and how to pay for it, Keiser and Dickerson said.

While the task force suggested that the state's general fund should be responsible for startup costs - about $6.2 million according to the Office of Financial Management - it did not recommend a long-term financing plan.

Keiser also told The Associated Press that she hopes Gov. Chris Gregoire will issue an executive order putting the Employment Security Department in charge of family leave. That was originally an element of the shelved bill.

Gregoire's office was noncommittal.

"The governor is waiting for the legislative process to play out," spokesman Aaron Toso said.

Opponents said Democrats were trying to squelch debate.

"They don't want to debate the merits of this new program, in light of the fact that we still don't know how to pay for it," said Sen. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake, who was a member of the task force.

Republicans had planned five amendments to the blueprint, including repealing the program by July 1 if a dedicated revenue source wasn't enacted by that date.

"The many issues that the bill fails to address would be fair game and we were prepared to point them out," Holmquist said.

But Dickerson said a funding solution will be found during next year's 105-day session, when lawmakers have more time to debate the issue. She said family leave supporters have incorporated suggestions from the Republicans on how to make the program more efficient, and that they'll be able to debate the issue during the budget debate.

"The Republicans would still like to revisit whether there should be family leave. We've already made that decision as a Legislature," Dickerson said. "But they still seem to want to talk about it."

Under the underlying law, employers with 25 or more employees are required to hold workers' jobs open while they are on leave, after they've been employed for a certain amount of time.

The Washington state program requires paid state leave to be taken at the same time as any unpaid federal leave.

Under federal law, paid leave is not required, but businesses with 50 or more employees must give workers up to 12 weeks of medical leave per year for themselves or to take care of a new child or ailing relative.

Supporters had been trying to pass a paid family leave measure since 2001, and only succeeded last year after lawmakers gutted the original bill. The first version of that bill would have covered care for a seriously ill parent and would have paid for the program with a 2-cent-an-hour tax on employees' pay. The original bill also would have allowed the weekly payment of $250 to rise yearly with inflation.

California is currently the only state with paid family leave, but its law is much more expansive, with workers also allowed to take leave for their own health conditions and to care for ailing relatives. That state's measure pays 55 percent of a worker's pay for six weeks, up to $882 a week.