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Landmark agreement announced
on unemployment insurance bill
A breakthrough was
achieved today as Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate and
House of Representatives announced agreement on Senate Bill 6885 to make
permanent changes in the way in which unemployment insurance benefits
are calculated.
The House is expected to pass the measure this evening with changes
agreed to by the Senate. The bill would then return to the Senate for
concurrence before being sent to the governor for her signature.
Bill sponsor and chair of
the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee, Sen.
Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, praised her colleagues for their
exceptional dedication to crafting a workable solution to a complex
issue.
“We’ve spent countless hours individually with stakeholder groups and
then collectively to strike a balance among so many interests and
needs,” Kohl-Welles said. “None of us wanted to have to keep revisiting
this issue year after year. We wanted an agreement that could work — for
our working people and for our employer community. I’m appreciative of
the hard work of this group in developing a bill that we can all live
with. This is one of the crowning achievements of the session.”
“This is an historic and balanced compromise on unemployment insurance,”
said Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, chair of the House Commerce and Labor
Committee. “In 2003, legislation was passed over labor’s objections. In
’05, business interests weren’t pleased with the end result. Today we
have a bill that protects claimants as well as reduces taxes for
business, and ensures a well-funded trust fund for the future.”
“All throughout these negotiations I’ve said that we needed to come to a
compromise that takes us to a fair and equitable system,” said Sen.
Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, ranking Republican on the Senate
Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee. “With leadership from
legislators on both sides of the aisle, today we took a good first step
to accomplishing that. I’m so pleased to see that all the hard work my
colleagues and I dedicated to the Unemployment Insurance Task Force has
culminated in this working compromise.”
“I’m proud of the work we did on this bill,” said
Rep. Cary Condotta,
R-East Wenatchee, ranking Republican on the House Commerce and Labor
Committee. “All of us sat down at the table committed to come up with a
workable solution. What came out of the negotiation was a rate structure
that will create less subsidizing between rate classes and, most
importantly, will stabilize rates for our state’s businesses. It’s a
solution for all involved and a true bipartisan legislative effort.”
SB 6885 would retain the two-quarter averaging system put in place
temporarily in 2005 as the basis for determining benefits. The bill’s
primary features affecting benefits include:
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Two-quarter averaging,
with an individual’s weekly benefit amount set at 3.85 percent of
the average in the two quarters of the base year in which wages were
highest, and
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Considering it good
cause when a spouse’s mandatory military transfer causes relocation,
regardless of the state to which the individual relocates. This
provision would apply to new claims on or after July 2, 2006.
The bill makes several
important changes to the way unemployment taxes are assessed to
employers, including:
-
Charging benefits as
though the weekly benefit amount is 1 percent of wages in all four
quarters of the base year, or charging at four quarters.
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Reducing social taxes
when the unemployment insurance trust fund contains enough funding
for 10 or more months of benefits.
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For seasonal
industries such as agriculture, fishing and food processing, the
maximum tax rate would be capped at 5.4 percent until January 2008,
and then move to 5.7 percent.
In addition, the bill
calls for the state Employment Security Department to look into the
issue of repeat episodes of unemployment, enhanced job search
requirements, employer turnover and the prevention of corporate fraud.
Findings and recommendations would be reported to committees of the
Legislature by Dec. 1, 2006.
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For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public Information Officer: (360) 786-7252
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