More News

Leaders of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce said Monday that the group will support an amended version of the unemployment insurance bill that legislative analysts said will offset any potential costs incurred by accepting $126.8 million in federal stimulus funds to help boost the state's unemployment trust fund.

The chamber's Legislative Committee voted Monday to accept the new version, said Kathleen Snyder, the chamber's CEO. Political leaders ironed out the new plan Friday after weeks of negotiations. Labor groups also have approved it. The chamber had opposed the bill until Monday.

"We really have gotten what we asked for," Snyder said. "This is as close to a guarantee of cost neutrality as possible. ... Certainly, there will be pain [in seeing rates more than triple], but having the payment plan will help ease that pain."

The Maryland Retailers Association also backs the compromise, according to the group's president, Thomas S. Saquella.

Under the plan, the state will eliminate sick claims filed by unemployed workers and increase the minimum weekly benefit threshold that claimants can collect to $50 from $25. The plan also boosts penalties for workers fired for misconduct and lowers wages that claimants can earn while on unemployment without reducing benefits to $50 from $100.

The value of the offsets is from $18.2 million to $19.5 million annually, according to state legislative analysts.

To gain the almost $126.8 million in federal money, Maryland must extend benefits to more workers, such as those in approved job-training programs. It also must adopt the alternative base period method of calculating claimants' eligibility for benefits.

Maryland now doesn't consider work in the unemployed worker's most recent three months, but most states use the alternative base period, which includes that last quarter. Those changes would cost the state from $18.4 million to $19.4 million annually, according to legislative analysts.

In addition, businesses can pay their taxes to the unemployment insurance trust fund in installments this year, and monthly interest on late payments will be reduced to 0.5 percent from 1.5 percent. Those aspects were key to gaining chamber leaders' approval.

Sen. Thomas McLain Middleton (D-Dist. 28) of Waldorf, who has coordinated negotiations on the issue with business and labor groups, said he thought the bill would have "pretty smooth sailing" once the legislation gets out of committee.

"I think it's something that nobody is wildly in love with, but it's something we can all live with," said Middleton, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and co-chairman of the legislature's Joint Committee on Unemployment Insurance Oversight.

Maryland's unemployment insurance fund, which pays out benefits to the unemployed, has declined to just about zero from $680.2 million a year ago, according to state figures. That decline has sparked a large hike in unemployment insurance taxes.

This year, the minimum rate employers are paying is $187 per employee, up from $51 last year.

Staff Writer Alan Brody contributed to this report.