{Frankfort, Kentucky}...Wednesday, Governor Steve Beshear signed into law a bill he says would save Kentucky employers millions of dollars in higher federal unemployment insurance taxes. The bill, sponsored by Democratic House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark of Louisville and by Republican Senator David Givens of Greensburg, would allow the state to issue revenue bonds to pay the first three years of interest on $963 million in federal loans that kept the state's unemployment insurance program operating during the recession. Beginning in 2014, employers would be assessed a $21-per-employee surcharge that would cover the $79 million for the first three years of interest payments and future interest on the debt to the federal government. Beshear says, if the state had not been able to make the interest payments due September 30th, employers would have lost a $600 million federal tax credit, and the amount of federal unemployment insurance tax that businesses pay would have gone from $63 to $420 per employee.
