Doug Holmes, Author at UWC: The Voice of Business

Rand Study Concludes Failure to Extend TRIA Would Cost the Federal Government More

By Doug Holmes|2014-05-01T20:54:22+00:00May 1st, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

The Rand Corporation has released its study of the impact on federal spending of failure to extend the provisions of TRIA. The study may be accessed through a link at http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR611.html?utm_source=Ennouncements+5-1-2014&utm_campaign=Ennouncements+5-01-14&utm_medium=email Key findings of the study include: For terrorist attacks with losses less than about $50 billion, having the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) in place [...]

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USDOL Distributes WOTC Funds to States in Anticipation of Retroactive Enactment

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-22T23:15:57+00:00April 22nd, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|

On April 17, 2014, the US DOL Employment and Training Administration distributed a Training and Employment Guidance Letter to state workforce agencies advising the agencies that although US DOL does not know whether Congress will act, based on previous retroactive legislation states may expect the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to be retroactively authorized. DOL interprets [...]

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Senate Finance Committee Votes to Extend Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and Adds Long Term Unemployed to Groups for Credit

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-17T15:26:28+00:00April 16th, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|

By voice vote on April 3rd the Senate Finance Committee approved an amended version of the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act of 2014. See http://www.finance.senate.gov/legislation/details/?id=67094f10-5056-a032-52ff-257830e0a938 One amendment included in the bill by Chairman Wyden would expand WOTC to provide a credit to employers hiring the long term unemployed. A description of the proposal [...]

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House Responds to Senate Passing EUC with “What Happened Since Extended Unemployment Benefits Ended?”

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-10T23:36:51+00:00April 9th, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|

As the Senate late Monday passed an EUC extension bill and sent it to the House for consideration, the House Ways and Means Committee provided a review of what has happened since EUC ended in December. The committee review makes the point that without EUC the workforce participation rate increased, the total unemployment rate decreased and [...]

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Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2014 Passes the Senate

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-08T15:28:11+00:00April 8th, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|

The EUC temporary extension bill that has been debated for months was finally brought to a vote on the floor of the US Senate as an amendment to HR 3979 on April 7th and passed on a vote of 59 to 38 with three abstentions. It was significant that the vote on the bill only received [...]

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Employer FUTA tax Increases Projected to Jump for 2014

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-02T20:38:47+00:00April 2nd, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|

List of states at risk with estimated potential BCR Add on increases estimated by US DOL The FUTA tax, which is already automatically increasing by approximately $21 per year each year in states that fail to repay federal loans, is projected to jump even higher for 2014. The size of the increase is determined by a [...]

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UWC Files Comments on CMS Proposed Re-review Process

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-01T17:08:29+00:00March 28th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

Read UWC Comments filed on March 28, 2014 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on February 11th that it is seeking comments on the manner in which CMS plans to expand the Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) re-review process. See : http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coordination-of-Benefits-and-Recovery/Workers-Compensation-Medicare-Set-Aside-Arrangements/Downloads/WCMSA-Re-review-Expansion.pdf. Currently, CMS has a limited re-review process for WCMSA amounts [...]

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NASWA Raises Issues with EUC Extension

By Doug Holmes|2014-03-19T22:51:57+00:00March 19th, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|Tags: EUC Extension|

In a letter to US Senate Leadership today the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) raised significant administrative issues with the currently proposed EUC extension bill agreed to by of 10 U.S. Senators led by Jack Reed (D-RI) and Dean Heller (R-NV) to reauthorize the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program for five months. The bill, [...]

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Bipartisan EUC Extension Appears to Have Votes to Proceed in Senate

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-01T17:58:44+00:00March 14th, 2014|Categories: Unemployment Insurance|

An agreement to extend EUC has been worked out by a group of 5 Republican Senators and the Democrat majority in the Senate to provide the 60 votes needed for consideration when the Senate returns from the congressional break. The agreement was announced late today through a bi-partisan release below. See the legislative draft language attached [...]

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Obama FY 2015 Budget Includes Funding for TRIA Extension, Addresses Worker Misclassification Issues

By Doug Holmes|2014-04-01T17:59:32+00:00March 12th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: Workers' Compensation|

In addition to issues related to access to workers’ compensation information by SSA, FECA Reform, and increased DBA monitoring, that I noted in my e-mail on March 7th, the budget also includes funding for an extension of TRIA in some form and increased monitoring of misclassification of workers for workers’ compensation. See the budget language below. [...]

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