The House Labor & Industry Committee favorably reported House Bill 1995, which would amend the unemployment compensation law to delay the date a solvency trigger for the UC trust fund takes effect from Dec. 31, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2027.

Committee discussion centered on how the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) is interpreting Act 144 of 2016. Chairman Groff said the bill’s proponents sought a temporary delay to give stakeholders time to renegotiate language after what he described as the department’s changed interpretation. “Act 144 was passed by broad bipartisan support,” Groff said. “We came up with a phenomenal compromise ... now we’re back to a point where they disagree with the language and think it does something that it was never entitled to do.”

Groff warned that a delay could move the state backward on solvency: “A delay doesn't get us towards solvency. It moves us backwards, so it adds costs to the unemployment compensation.” Minority Chair Grove led a typewritten amendment (Amendment No. 1) intended to remove the two-year delay and to clarify the original intent of the trigger provision in Act 144; staff member John explained the amendment’s text and effect.

The committee voted on the typewritten amendment; the amendment failed. The committee then proceeded to a recorded roll-call vote on House Bill 1995. The bill passed in committee and was reported favorably as committed.

Members debated policy trade-offs on the record: proponents of the delay said moving the effective trigger date would prevent immediate reductions in weekly UC benefit amounts for claimants beginning in 2026; opponents said the delay would undermine the solvency framework negotiated under Act 144 and increase future employer and employee tax burdens tied to insolvency. Committee members also urged continued stakeholder negotiations to reach a durable resolution.