House drafts measure to help part-timers King vetoed similar assistance plan last week

AUGUSTA – Democratic House leaders have drafted new legislation extending unemployment benefits to part-time workers. Gov. Angus King vetoed similar legislation last week.

As part of the economic stimulus package President Bush signed in February, Maine received $32.5 million as its share of the surplus in the federal Unemployment Trust Fund. State lawmakers then approved a measure that used the so-called “Reed Act” money to pay for unemployment benefits for laid off part-timers.

In his veto message, King argued that the legislation would create a new benefit for workers that eventually would be paid by employers when the federal money ran out.

“While this would avoid an immediate unemployment tax increase, such an increase would be necessary at some future date,” King wrote. “The use of the federal funds merely delays, but does not prevent this increase.”

House Speaker Michael Saxl, D-Portland, said Tuesday that Democrats were proposing a new bill with a “sunset” provision that would end the benefits for part-time workers as soon as the federal funds ran out.

But King spokesman Tony Sprague said Tuesday evening that despite the sunset provision the governor is concerned that a future Legislature could decide to continue the program and that employers eventually will have to pay higher taxes to fund the benefits.

“He is concerned once a new program is started, it will be hard to stop it,” Sprague said. “So while there is no immediate cost, he is concerned it will eventually cost employers, even with the sunset.”

But, Sprague said King has not decided what he will do if the new measure is passed when lawmakers return to Augusta today.

Saxl hopes King will sign the measure and let a future governor and Legislature decide whether the policy is a good one. He said the changing nature of the Maine work force is why he strongly supports the expansion of benefits and is pushing the legislation in what he hopes is the final day of the session.

“There are so many workers that are part-time workers now,” he said. “This helps those people and it helps the economy. This is money that goes right into buying groceries and paying the bills.”

Experts say about one-third of the more than 600,000 Mainers in the work force are working part-time jobs and another 10 percent are self-employed and not covered by the unemployment system. And while part-time workers technically are covered, current law allows part-time workers to receive benefits only if they are willing to take full-time work.

“Employers pay unemployment taxes on the first $12,000 of pay regardless of whether a worker is full- or part-time,” said Laura Boyett, director of the Unemployment Compensation Bureau, “so those workers are eligible for benefits. But, they must be looking for a full-time job, not a part-time job, to collect those benefits.”

The expansion legislation King vetoed was opposed by Sen. Tom Sawyer, R-Bangor, a member of the Labor Committee. But, he said the new proposal deserves to be considered by lawmakers.

“I think it is a fair proposal,” he said. “I think it deserves a really hard look.”

Sawyer said he wanted to hear all the arguments before deciding whether to support or oppose the new measure.