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11-25-2003

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 6 months ago

December 25, 2003

ROMNEY ALLOWS UI BILL TO BECOME LAW WITHOUT SIGNATURE

Refiles legislation containing benefit reforms, pushes lawmakers to act

 

Saying he will continue to fight for reform, Governor Mitt Romney announced today he will allow a bill addressing the insolvency of the unemployment insurance system to become law without his signature. Romney also refiled legislation containing benefit changes to lessen the impact on employers.

 

Romney said the Legislature’s bill includes a change to the experience rating schedule to more fairly distribute unemployment insurance costs and provide incentives to minimize job loss. It also puts in place provisions that will curb fraud by both employers and individuals.

 

“Even a baby step is better than no step,” said Romney. “For that reason, I will allow this bill to become law without my signature, and go back to work on convincing the Legislature to adopt reforms that will lessen the impact on employers.”

 

Based on the most up-to-date numbers from the United States Department of Labor, the cost to employers under the Legislature’s plan is $1.411 billion, which is a $597 million increase over what they paid this year. To go to Schedule G, which would happen automatically on January 1, 2004 if nothing was done, the cost to employers would essentially be the same — $1.412 billion.

 

Citing a need to stay competitive, Romney said, “The Legislature has put the full burden on employers at a time when we should be encouraging job growth, not discouraging it.”

 

Yesterday, Romney met with business leaders to solicit their feedback on this important legislation, including representatives from several chambers of commerce, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Massachusetts High Tech Council. According to Romney, the consensus among business leaders was to accept the Legislature’s bill and continue to push for more reform.

 

Taking a more balanced approach to reforming the unemployment insurance system, Romney’s refiled legislation proposes to:

 

Reduce the duration of time individuals can receive unemployment insurance benefits from 30 weeks to 26 weeks, putting Massachusetts on the same footing as all other 49 states;

Increase the amount of time an individual needs to be working to become eligible to receive benefits, from 15 to 20 weeks; and

Redefine the “average weekly wage” to a more reasonable standard by basing it on four quarters of earnings with the three highest quarters being double weighted.

Under these proposed provisions, Romney said Massachusetts will remain number one in the nation in benefits and nobody who is currently receiving benefits will experience a reduction in benefits.

 

“For the sake of our state’s long term economic health, I ask the Legislature to make the enactment of these proposed changes one of their top priorities when they return in January,” said Romney.

 

 

 

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