On August 12th, the US Department of Labor released the Significant Measures of State UI Tax Systems report reviewing state data for 2014. The report is available by link to http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/sigmeasuitaxsys14.pdf. The report demonstrates the variation state by state in the distribution of UI tax burden and identifies areas to be addressed by policy and or [...]
On August 10th Governor Steve Beshear announced that Kentucky had repaid the Title XII loan debt to the federal government. The payoff is expected to trigger a significant reduction in the Federal Unemployment Tax to be paid by employers on employment in Kentucky for 2015. Governor Beshear estimated that the payoff would result in a reduction [...]
The Senate Finance Committee today passed a tax extenders package that would extend the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for two years through December of 2016 and an amendment in committee would expand the coverage to include individuals who have exhausted unemployment compensation. A summary of the Chairman’s amendment is available at http://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/JCX-103-15%20%20Chairman's%20Modification.pdf . The expansion to [...]
Of the states that have not repaid their UI trust fund loans to the federal government and are subject to the Benefit Cost Rate (BCR) Add On, only Connecticut has chosen not to seek a waiver of the additional tax. The BCR Add On in Connecticut will further increase the FUTA tax for employers in Connecticut [...]
UWC delivered a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, opposing the imposition of a proposed new federal reporting mandate that would cost employers billions of dollars of compliance and administrative costs. We have also drafted a sign on letter and request that [...]
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced today that North Carolina has paid off the unemployment insurance debt owed to the federal government. That debt was as high as $2.8 billion and stood at $2.5 billion when Governor McCrory took office in January 2013. “This will give employers certainty about the cost of doing business in North [...]
The US Department of Labor has begun to release operating instructions to implement the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) starting with the appointment of state and local workforce development boards. See instructions released at http://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/attach/TEGL/TEGL_27-14.pdf The following activities must be completed by July 1, 2015 The Governor must appoint a WIOA-compliant State Board States that [...]
The City of Phoenix, Human Resources Department, is requesting proposals from one or more qualified Proposers to provide employment and wage verification services, Form I-9 verification services, and unemployment cost management services. The detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) can be found on the City of Phoenix web page at the following link: https://www.phoenix.gov/solicitations/307. Proposers may provide [...]
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been released for implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (joint NPRM with the Departments of Education and Labor) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; Notice of Proposed [...]
Bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce and House Ways and Means Committees today introduced H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, to permanently replace Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). The agreement builds upon H.R. 1470, the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to replace the SGR formula [...]