HB 1152 – Unemployment Insurance
Authored by Rep. Dan Leonard (R-Huntington)
Clarifies provisions concerning the overpayment of unemployment benefits resulting from fraud or failure to disclose wages and the forfeiture of benefits or wage credits.
Chamber position: Support
The latest: The bill passed a hotly divided House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee along a party line vote of 8-4. Representative Leonard indicated that there was an exceedingly large amount of claims this past year due to COVID-19 and this bill is trying to clean up any fraud and abuse within the system. An amendment offered by Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D-Evansville) that would have returned the language to a “material fact” rather than “any fact” was defeated on party lines, but not before Rep. David Abbot (R-Rome City) changed his vote to a “no” – admitting that he had been mistaken for having voted for Rep. Hatfield’s amendment.
Indiana Chamber action/commentary: The AFL-CIO and House Democrats argued that this bill puts claims of fraud on people who made honest good faith errors and increases repercussions to those who unknowingly make mistakes. The Indiana Chamber commended the Department of Workforce Development for the work the agency did over the past summer under the circumstances. The Chamber supports any and all efforts to crack down on fraud to the unemployment insurance system to protect the trust fund.
Resource: Mike Ripley at (317) 264-6883 or email: mripley@indianachamber.com
