Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Technology (05/01/2009)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY

Date:	05/01/2009	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:36 PM to 01:46 PM	Foster	X
		Harvey	*
Place:	SCR 353	Mitchell	E
		Scheffel	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Tochtrop	X
	Senator Heath	Heath	X
		Veiga	X
This Report was prepared by
	Hillary Smith
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB09-1363		Referred to the Committee of the Whole

01:36 PM -- House Bill 09-1363

Senator Veiga presented House Bill 09-1363. The bill establishes the Unemployment Compensation Section in the Department of Labor and Employment as an enterprise as long as the section retains authority to issue revenue bonds and receives less than 10 percent of its total annual revenue from state and local grants. As an enterprise, revenue collected by the section will not be subject to Section 20 of Article X (TABOR) of the state constitution. Employers are required to pay premiums, premium surcharges, and a solvency surcharge, when applicable, instead of taxes, to fund the unemployment compensation benefit system. Senator Veiga explained the bill and responded to questions from Senator Harvey. She distributed a table illustrating the Unemployment Trust Fund (UI Trust Fund) forecast as of March 2009 (Attachment A).

The following individual testified regarding the bill:

01:38 PM -- Wayne Peel, Chief Financial Officer, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, testified in favor of the bill. He addressed Senator Harvey's questions and discussed the funding sources for the Unemployment Compensation Section of the department and the UI Trust Fund. Mr. Peel said the bill will ensure that the UI Trust Fund will not interact with the state's General Fund. Mr. Peel responded to questions from Senator Foster and Senator Scheffel regarding the effect of the bill on the UI program and TABOR refunds. Discussion continued among the members of the committee.


BILL:	HB09-1363
TIME:	01:45:52 PM
MOVED:	Veiga
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 09-1363 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 6-0 roll call vote, with one member excused.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Foster	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Mitchell	Excused
	Scheffel	Yes
	Tochtrop	Yes
	Heath	Yes
	Veiga	Yes

Final YES: 6 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:46 PM

The committee adjourned.