Compromise brokered on Md. unemployment insurance bill 

Posted: 1:19 pm Fri, February 26, 2010
By Nicholas Sohr
Daily Record Business Writer

A proposed compromise on Gov. Martin O’Malley’s unemployment insurance legislation includes more than $18 million in benefit reductions aimed at getting business groups on board.

Kathleen T. Snyder, president and CEO of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, said she was encouraged by what she heard was in the proposal. The chamber’s legislative committee will review the heavily amended bill Monday, Snyder said.

Sen. Thomas M. “Mac” Middleton, D-Charles, said he thought both the chamber and the Maryland Retailers Association — two key business groups involved in the negotiations — would be amenable to the proposal.

The proposal would cut sick claims, increase the weekly benefit to $50, increase penalties for misconduct and decrease the amount of wages not counted when calculating benefits from $50 to $100. Those measures would eliminate between $18.2 million and $19.5 million in benefits annually, according to an analysis of the legislation.

The benefit expansion, which would qualify the state for $126.8 million from the federal government, would cost between $18.4 million and $19.4 million annually.