2020 Second Extraordinary Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 5
BY SENATOR REESE AND REPRESENTATI VE BEAULLIEU
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To suspend until sixty days after final adjournment of the 2021 Regular Session of the
Legislature the provisions of R.S. 23:1474(C), (G)(3), and (H) providing for the
determination of the unemployment insurance taxable wage base, maximum weekly
benefit amount, and formula for the calculation of benefits for the 2021 calendar
year.
WHEREAS, present law requires that each September the Revenue Estimating
Conference meet to adopt a projected balance of the state's unemployment compensation
trust fund for one year into the future and for the secretary of the Louisiana Workforce
Commission to take the lower amount of that projection and the actual September first
balance in the current year to use in determining the taxable wage base, maximum weekly
benefit amount, and formula for calculating benefits for the upcoming calendar year; and
WHEREAS, as the balance in the state's unemployment compensation trust fund
declines, payroll taxes increase on businesses and benefits decrease for unemployed workers
and as the balance in the trust fund rises, payroll taxes decrease on businesses and benefits
increase for unemployed workers; and
WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana is still recovering from the serious blow dealt by
the unprecedented pandemic known as the novel coronavirus or COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately four hundred
thousand jobless Louisiana workers are receiving federal or state unemployment
compensation benefits compared to about thirteen thousand jobless workers in this same
quarter in 2019, leaving a staggering economic impact on businesses and residents statewide;
and
WHEREAS, in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, a series of
executive orders was issued that resulted in a statewide shutdown of nonessential businesses
and operations causing an increase in the number of individuals who have filed for
unemployment benefits; and
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WHEREAS, the unemployment compensation trust fund balance was approximately
one billion fifty million dollars at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and had a balance
of only forty-eight million dollars as of September 25, 2020; and
WHEREAS, the state's unemployment compensation trust fund is projected to
become insolvent on October 5, 2020, and the commission is required to pay valid claims
whether the fund is solvent or not and has paid more than one billion dollars in claims since
March 2020; and
WHEREAS, insolvency of the unemployment compensation trust fund will not stop
benefits to unemployed Louisiana workers and the fund's diminished capacity and
subsequent insolvency will, by law, trigger undesirable effects, including a drop in weekly
benefit payments to unemployed workers and an increase in taxes to businesses in January
2021; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana businesses are recovering from the challenges presented by
this unprecedented health and economic crisis and will be struggling to restart the state's
economy so workers can return to earning a living in the months ahead and into 2021; and
WHEREAS, in an effort to stabilize unemployment taxes on businesses and
unemployment benefits to unemployed workers, it is necessary to temporarily suspend
present law procedures that trigger those consequences.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana hereby suspends
the provisions of R.S. 23:1474(C), (G)(3), and (H) providing for the determination of the
unemployment insurance taxable wage base, maximum weekly benefit amount, and formula
for the calculation of benefits.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this suspension shall become effective upon
adoption of this Resolution and shall extend through the sixtieth day after final adjournment
of the 2021 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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