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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | September 6, 2022 12:14 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Twardzik |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Supporting Small Businesses Affected by Unfair Unemployment Compensation Rate Increases |
| It has recently been brought to my attention that there are a number of small businesses in the Commonwealth that are facing a significant increase in their Unemployment Compensation rate as a result of the COVID shutdown. This issue was brought to my attention by the owner of a restaurant who attended a recent House Majority Policy Committee hearing. He has been in business for over forty years and never had an unemployment claim filed against him. He chose to listen to Governor Wolf’s repeated warnings that businesses needed to take every precaution to keep employees and customers safe. As a result, his restaurant remained closed until August, 2021. Unemployment Compensation (UC) tax rates are set based on employee experience for the previous three fiscal years. He could not show employee payroll for the third year because he remained closed due to the emergency declaration. Small businesses have taken significant hits since the start of the pandemic. I plan to introduce legislation that will offer relief to those businesses that find themselves in this situation due to the emergency declaration. I am proud to be working with Senator Argall in addressing this issue, who has introduced mirror legislation in the Senate Chamber. I hope you will join me in supporting not only this bill, but the many small businesses that are struggling to survive. |
Introduced as HB2812