By: Nicholas Sohr

Maryland lawmakers have for weeks refereed a tennis match as labor and business groups volleyed unemployment insurance proposals back and forth.

The senator running the show said Wednesday morning the game may finally be over.

“I thought we had a very, very good deal on the table,” said Sen. Thomas M. “Mac” Middleton, D-Charles. “My hope is that we can move forward today.

Middleton convened business, labor and employee advocates last night for the latest in a long and nearly constant series of meetings on Gov. Martin O’Malley’s unemployment insurance plan.

Middleton said labor groups are on board with the plan and had offered a small change that would need to be approved by business groups.

The governor’s proposal, filed as SB 107 and HB 91, would expand benefits available to Marylanders to make the state eligible for $126.8 million in federal funds. That one-time infusion would prop up the shrinking Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and cover the $83 million in breaks for businesses this year.

Middleton has said the tax break portion of the legislation appears to be dead, as most business groups have fought against it.

Debate has centered on finding benefit reductions in other areas to offset the estimated $20 million annual cost of the governor’s proposed benefit expansion.