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Senate committee hears bill to cut unemployment taxes and tighten fraud checks
Summary
Lawmakers and the Department of Labor and Industry presented House Bill 210, which would add a lower UI tax tier to return roughly $12.4M–$25.8M annually to employers and add an automated, vendor-mediated check against Montana driver-license records to reduce fraud. DLI said the measures preserve benefit levels while improving program integrity.
Representative Steve Fitzpatrick introduced House Bill 210, saying the measure would create a new, lower unemployment insurance tax tier and modernize data checks to reduce fraud, producing what DLI estimates as a $12.45 million savings in fiscal 2026 and about $25.8 million in 2027 for Montana employers.
The bill’s sponsor and Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Sarah Swanson framed the change as an actuarially supported correction. Swanson said the department engaged an external actuary and concluded Montana’s trust fund is robust enough to allow a…
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