Late last year, Congress voted to extend federal emergency unemployment compensation benefits and the Social Security payroll tax cut for another two months. In doing so, they rejected a House version of the extension that included several unemployment compensation reforms.

Now, businesses across the country are urging the joint House-Senate committee charged with developing new legislation to re-consider and adopt the reforms.

CBIA has joined several state and national business associations in signing a letter to the conference committee urging its “support [of] measures to preserve state flexibility and to avoid additional taxes.”

Employers, says the letter, have experienced “dramatic increases in their tax burden related to unemployment compensation.” Therefore, “The focus of legislation should be to promote work, job creation and flexibility at the state level to assist unemployed workers in returning to work and enabling employers to create jobs and hire workers.”

Reports indicate that there is general support on the committee for program improvements, including those requiring a work search, providing reemployment services, and protecting the integrity of the system.

However, committee Republicans and Democrats apparently have different views on which specific reforms to include in the eventual legislation.

The current benefits extension will expire at the end of February. 

For more information, contact CBIA’s Kia Murrell at 860.244.1931 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).