Lawmakers say they're ready to work. "The Assembly is committed to helping ensure there are enough unemployment insurance funds available to help Californians facing temporary job losses," said Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles).
Employers should bear the bulk of the burden for keeping the fund solvent, said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. "Employers are failing to hold up their end of the social insurance bargain," he said. "They've been paying the same low rate on the same low wages for more than two decades."
But business groups counter that it's not a good idea to boost taxes on employers during a recession, when the economy already is shedding thousands of jobs.
Lawmakers, unions and employers need "to look at the whole picture," said Michael Shaw, legislative director in California for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which represents 35,000 small companies. That includes dealing with benefit levels, eligibility and employer taxes as well as finding ways to stimulate overall economic growth, he said.
"The unemployment rate is not going to go down until we create new jobs," Shaw said.
Republican legislators, who last summer beat back a Schwarzenegger proposal to raise the state sales tax, are not likely to provide the votes needed to raise the unemployment insurance levy, said Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto.
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marc.lifsher@latimes.com
