In front of the Ohio Senate Insurance & Financial Institutions Committee, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce gave proponent testimony in support of Senate Bill 282 (SB 282). The bill, if enacted, requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) – the state agency charged with administering Ohio’s unemployment compensation system – to provide an online process whereby employers can inform the department about an unemployment applicant or recipient failing to meet benefit eligibility requirements.

The process called for in SB 282 can be utilized by employers to inform ODJFS about an individual who fails to show up to an interview, fails to search for work on a weekly basis, turns down a job offer, drops out of an educational program or fails to register with the OhioMeansJobs website. This reporting procedure should benefit Ohio’s business community because it is one more tool that can help prevent unemployment benefits from being paid to ineligible individuals.

By stopping benefits from being paid to ineligible individuals, SB 282 is safeguarding Ohio employer dollars since unemployment compensation benefits are funded entirely by taxes on employers. The legislation protects employer dollars from getting into the wrong hands because the online process created under the bill will help address the overpayment of benefits or paying fraudulent claims which, according to data on the ODJFS, has amounted to as much as $19 million in a single year.

At a time when Ohio’s unemployment trust fund is insolvent, it is crucial for Ohio to limit overpaying benefits or paying benefits to ineligible individuals. Likewise, since our trust fund went insolvent in July, Ohio has already borrowed more than $741 million to cover the cost of unemployment benefits.

That money and any future loans must be paid back, and Ohio employers will be footing the bill once again like we did at the last recession when the state borrowed more than $3.4 billion from the federal government.

While SB 282 is a step in the right direction because it makes it easier for employers to report potential eligibility issues to ODJFS, Ohio’s unemployment compensation system is still in need of major reform before our trust fund can remain solvent during a recession. The Ohio Chamber will continue advocating for solutions that will put our system on a path towards solvency, and we look forward to working with lawmakers to finally fix our broken unemployment compensation system.