House pulls labor reporting bill, it’ll be reworked for next year

Legislation to penalize employers who, after a warning, still fail to report new hires to the state Department of Labor, allowing those workers to fraudulently continue to collect unemployment benefits, has been returned to the House Commerce Committee by unanimous consent of the House. Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, who earlier pushed through a move to send the Senate-passed bill, SB 1369, to the amending order, asked for the move. “In the intervening time, we’ve had discussions with the Department of Labor. They were much appreciative of the ideas and thoughts that came forward of making this bill more friendly to the interests of the businesses that would be involved,” Hartgen told the House. As a result, the bill will be reworked and a new version presented next year, he said.

Though the bill had passed the Senate unanimously, House members called it big-government overreach and too onerous on employers, and suggested instead paying employers who comply with the reporting law, rather than penalizing those who don’t with a $25 fine. The department estimated the state is losing $5 million a year on unemployment fraud that could be avoided with employer reporting.