Kentucky lawmakers OK bill to lock in unemployment insurance tax rate

The measure would allow employers to continue using the unemployment insurance assessment rate set for 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers gave final passage Monday to a business-backed bill that would provide relief to employers on their unemployment insurance tax assessments.

The House voted 88-5 to send House Bill 144 to Gov. Andy Beshear.

Another key part of the bill would spend $242 million in federal pandemic aid to replenish the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund. Like other states, Kentucky was overwhelmed by record waves of claims for jobless assistance caused by the coronavirus.

The measure would allow employers to continue using the unemployment insurance assessment rate set for 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The suspended rate would save Kentucky businesses, on average, about $70 per employee, lawmakers were told.

Republican Rep. Russell Webber, the bill's lead sponsor, has said the locked-in rate would give businesses “some breathing room” while trying to cope with other challenges, including rising inflation and ongoing supply chain problems.

Some lawmakers have been critical of giving relief to employers while another bill would revamp rules for unemployment benefits for laid-off Kentuckians.

That separate measure, which lawmakers sent to the governor last week, would increase work-search requirements for people receiving jobless benefits and tie the length of time recipients get benefits to the unemployment rate. That provision could cut the number of benefit weeks by more than half in times of low jobless rates.