HB 1409, a bill dealing with Missouri unemployment, has passed in the House today.
The bill cuts the maximum benefits to 13 weeks if the state’s jobless rate is below 6 percent. The maximum number of weeks will rise under Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick’s proposal if the unemployment rate creeps above 6 percent, topping out at the current level of 20 weeks if the jobless rate eclipses 9 percent. It also prevents employees with severance packages from simultaneously receiving unemployment benefits.
This bill has been introduced twice previously.
“Although we passed this bill in the 2015 legislative session, then-Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill,” said Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri. “We supported the bill as the House and Senate both voted to override the veto, but the Missouri Supreme Court said the veto override was not valid due to a technicality. This bill is nearly identical and the time has come to enact this legislation to improve the health of the unemployment trust fund in Missouri,” said McCarty.
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