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Senate committee passes bill excluding pandemic-ordered closures from small-business unemployment-rate calculations
Summary
The Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee passed House Bill 1212 to exclude unemployment tied to government-ordered COVID-19 closures in Q2 2020 from small businesses’ 2021 rate calculations; sponsor said the change is time-sensitive to allow required adjustments this year.
House Bill 1212 cleared the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee after the panel adopted an amendment and approved the bill by voice vote.
Sen. Ervin, who presented the measure, said the bill would prevent unemployment tied to government-ordered COVID-19 shutdowns — including many hair salons, barbershops and restaurants — from being counted against small employers when state unemployment rates are recalculated for 2021. "The only way that we can adjust that is by passing this legislation so that those small businesses that the government ordered to close ... those second quarter unemployment numbers would not be counted against them for their 2021 rates," Sen. Ervin said.
Sen. Ervin told the committee the change was prompted by testimony earlier in the year from affected small businesses and by Representative Lademan's work gathering statements from business owners. The sponsor described the change as "time of the essence" because adjustments must be made within the existing review process this year.
The chair called for questions; none were offered. After a motion to pass and a second, the committee recorded the vote by voice and the chair announced passage of the bill.
Next steps: The committee advanced HB 1212 to the full Senate process. The transcript recorded adoption of an amendment and a voice vote in favor; no roll-call tally was recorded in the committee proceeding.
