unemployment insurance

O’Malley to pledge help on unemployment insurance

(THE WASHINGTON POST) - Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) will promise Thursday night to work with business leaders to find a “more sustainable solution” to a state employment insurance system under which tax rates are tripling next year for many Maryland companies.

The pledge is included in the governor’s prepared remarks to a gathering of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, which is meeting in Cambridge. O’Malley provides no specifics in his speech, and aides said his administration is still reviewing several possible models for reform that will likely require legislative approval.

The currrent predicament is largely the result of a 2005 law that calls for an automatic review of the state’s unemployment insurance fund every Sept. 30 to determine if it has enough cash to remain viable in the coming year. A formula is used to determine how much employers must pay to keep the fund solvent.

The economic downturn has taken a heavy toll on such funds in Maryland and other states around the country.

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