On February 24, 2016 President Obama signed into law the Trade “Customs” bill otherwise known as the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015’’. The full text of the Act as signed by the President.
This legislation was the last of a series of trade related bills that were enacted in 2015. The Senate passed version of the legislation had included a section that would have imposed a significant new reporting burden for employers to report standard occupational classification codes for each of their employees as part of quarterly wage reports to state unemployment agencies. The increased reporting burden was not recognized until raised by UWC and payroll companies. The Senate passed language was identified by the Congressional Budget Office as imposing an unfunded mandate on employers and increasing the cost of administration of unemployment insurance by state agencies without additional administrative funding.
UWC coordinated a letter of opposition to the unfunded mandate which contributed to the decision in the House and Senate conference committee not to include the Senate language.
We are interested in further discussion of the improved use of wage information in the evaluation of performance of programs through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and will discuss this issue at the annual UI Issues Conference in Kansas City on June 22-24.
Thanks to all who signed on to the letter of opposition.
