Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Committee hears competing proposals to shore up unemployment fund; business and labor push different fixes
Summary
At an informal hearing on House Bill 321, Representative Peterson proposed raising the taxable wage base and a narrow employee contribution for workers of 'negative-rated' employers; the Ohio Chamber pushed employer-side increases and benefit reductions for larger solvency gains while building trades warned cutting weeks would harm seasonal workers.
Representative Peterson and invited witnesses presented competing approaches to address Ohio’s unemployment compensation solvency problem during an informal hearing on House Bill 321.
Peterson said HB 321 would raise the taxable wage base from $9,000 to $9,500 and create an employer participation fund that includes a 0.14% employee contribution applied only when an employee works for a negative-rated employer (an employer whose benefit charges exceed their contributions). Peterson said those changes would generate roughly $23.8 million from raising the wage base and about $25.2 million from the narrowly targeted…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
