Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Finally

last day. There are a couple of issues still remaining on the last day of Indiana's legislative session. Besides the budget, the main item would be the unemployment compensation fund. This is the fund every Indiana business pays into to compensate workers when they are laid off. A few years back, the business community and labor lobbyists got together and passed a tax decrease on business and benefit increase for laid-off workers. Well, as one can imagine, by cutting income and increasing expenditures, the fund is now in the red. Unfortunately, from what I can tell at this point, the legislative compromise seems to be centered on increasing costs on businesses rather than much cutting of benefits. The problem with that is that there are cases such as construction workers who don't work in the winter, but collect unemployment benefits. I'm of the opinion that the unemployment fund isn't meant to be a buffer or carry-over for those workers who take half the year off. If a construction worker can't work in the winter months, I suggest they budget for those lean months, or find a off-season job to help make up the shortage. The unemployment fund is for those who have been laid off, not those who are taking time off.

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