Senate passes unemployment insurance bill

OLYMPIA – The rates that employers pay into the state’s unemployment insurance fund will be reduced — but not at the risk of lowering benefits for those who lose their employment — thanks to legislation passed yesterday by the Senate.

Senate Bill 6885, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, would make permanent the use of the two-quarter averaging system to calculate the benefits paid to the unemployed. Two-quarter averaging, a more generous method of calculation used in most states, bases benefits on a percentage of what employees earned in their two highest quarters while employed. The bill passed by a 25 to 22 vote.

The measure is a result of extensive research and recommendations from a renowned economist. It incorporates suggestions from the Employment Security Department based on its extensive history with Washington’s unemployment system.

While well supported by Democratic senators, the bill requires more work if it is to be considered a bipartisan effort, says the sponsor.

“Important to the Democrats is that it permanently restores the most basic benefits for unemployed workers while significantly reducing costs to employers,” Kohl-Welles said.

It would result in a savings to the unemployment benefits system and allow for the continuation of a healthy trust fund. Between 2006 and 2010, it is estimated that the system would realize more than $1 billion in tax savings.

The bill also contains additional tax savings features that would reduce costs for small businesses, seasonal businesses and family-wage businesses.

“We want to make our unemployment insurance system fair,” Kohl-Welles said. “This bill takes us in the right direction.”

The bill moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration. The legislative session, which convened on Jan. 9, is scheduled to adjourn on March 9.

Return to Sen. Kohl-Welles' home page