An Act to Index Unemployment Benefits to the Unemployment Rate
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1538
Committee: Labor
Sponsors: STEWART
Amends: 26 MRSA §585, 26 MRSA §663, 26 MRSA §1041, 26 MRSA §1043, 26 MRSA §1164, 26 MRSA §1191, 26 MRSA §1221, 26 MRSA §1221-B, 36 MRSA §5219-X, 39-A MRSA §220

Legislative Document
No. 1538
S.P. 622
In Senate, April 8, 2025
An Act to Index Unemployment Benefits to the Unemployment Rate
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator STEWART of Aroostook.
Cosponsored by Senator: BRADSTREET of Kennebec.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  26 MRSA §585, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 387, §2, is amended to 
read:
1.  Agricultural labor.  "Agricultural labor" means agricultural labor as defined in the 
Employment Security Law, chapter 13 Reemployment Assistance Program.
Sec. 2.  26 MRSA §663, sub-§3, ¶A, as amended by PL 1975, c. 717, §5, is further 
amended to read:
A.  Any individual employed in agriculture as defined in the Maine Employment 
Security Law Reemployment Assistance Program and the Federal Unemployment 
Insurance Tax Law Act, except when that individual performs services for or on a farm 
with over 300,000 laying birds;
Sec. 3.  26 MRSA §1041 is amended to read:
§1041.  Short title
This chapter shall be is known and may be cited as "the "Employment Security Law" 
Reemployment Assistance Program."
Sec. 4.  26 MRSA §1043, sub-§16-A is enacted to read:
16-A.  State average unemployment rate.  "State average unemployment rate" means 
a percentage equal to the average of the 3 months of the most recent 3rd quarter of a 
calendar year of the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the State as published by 
the Department of Labor.
Sec. 5.  26 MRSA §1164, as amended by PL 1999, c. 464, §5, is further amended to 
read:
§1164.  Special Administrative Expense Fund
The Special Administrative Expense Fund is created as a special fund in the State 
Treasury.  All interest, fines and penalties collected under this chapter and all voluntary 
contributions tendered as a contribution to this fund must be paid into this fund.  The money 
may not be expended or available for expenditure in any manner that would permit its 
substitution for, or a corresponding reduction in, federal funds that would in the absence of 
that money be available to finance expenditures for the administration of the Employment 
Security Law Reemployment Assistance Program.  Nothing in this This section prevents 
does not prevent the money from being used as a revolving fund to cover expenditures, 
necessary and proper under the law, for which federal funds have been duly requested but 
not yet received, subject to the charging of those expenditures against those funds when 
received.  The money in this fund must be used by the commissioner either for the payment 
of costs of administration that are found not to have been properly and validly chargeable 
against federal grants or other funds received for or in the Employment Security 
Administration Fund on or after January 1, 1943, to finance the Maine Wage Assurance 
Fund established in section 632; for the payment of costs of administering chapter 26, for 
which federal funds are not available; or to fund activities that will improve the solvency 
of the Unemployment Compensation Fund.  The money must be available either to satisfy 
the obligations incurred by the bureau directly or by requesting the Treasurer of State to 
transfer the required amount from the Special Administrative Expense Fund to the 
Employment Security Administration Fund or the Maine Wage Assurance Fund.  The 
Treasurer of State shall upon receipt of a written request of the commissioner make any 
such transfer.  The commissioner shall give notice to the commission prior to any 
expenditures from this fund.  The commissioner shall order the transfer of the funds or the 
payment of any such obligation and the funds must be paid by the Treasurer of State on 
requisitions drawn by the commissioner directing the State Controller to issue the State 
Controller's warrant for them.  The warrant must be drawn by the State Controller based 
upon bills of particulars and vouchers certified by an officer or employee designated by the 
commissioner.  The money in this fund is specifically made available to replace, within a 
reasonable time, any money received by this State pursuant to section Section 302 of the 
Federal federal Social Security Act as amended that, because of any action or contingency, 
has been lost or has been expended for purposes other than, or in amounts in excess of, 
those necessary for the proper administration of the Employment Security Law 
Reemployment Assistance Program.  The money in this fund must be continuously 
available to the commissioner for expenditure in accordance with this section and may not 
lapse at any time or be transferred to any other fund except as provided.  Any money in the 
Special Administrative Expense Fund may be used to make refunds of interest, penalties 
or fines erroneously collected and deposited in the Special Administrative Expense Fund.  
On June 30th of each year all money in excess of $100,000 in this fund must be transferred 
to the Unemployment Compensation Fund.
Sec. 6.  26 MRSA §1191, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2009, c. 271, §2, is further 
amended to read:
4.  Maximum amount of benefits.  The maximum amount of benefits that may be 
paid to any eligible individual with respect to any benefit year, whether for total or partial 
unemployment, may not exceed the lesser of 26 is 14 times the individual's weekly benefit 
amount or 33 1/3%, rounded to the nearest dollar, of the individual's total wages paid for 
insured work during the individual's base period, plus the supplemental weekly benefit for 
dependents payable under subsection 6 if the state average unemployment rate is at or 
below 5.5%, plus an additional amount equal to one week of the individual's weekly benefit 
amount for each 0.5% of the state average unemployment rate above 5.5%, up to a 
maximum of 26 times the individual's weekly benefit amount.
A.  If a dislocated worker, as defined in section 1196, subsection 1, who is in training 
approved under section 1192, subsection 6, 6-A, 6-C, 6-D or 6-E qualifies for 
additional benefits under section 1043, subsection 5, paragraph B, or exhausts the 
worker's entitlement to benefits available to the worker under this subsection, the 
maximum amount under this subsection is the product of the worker's most recent 
weekly benefit amount multiplied by the number of weeks in which the worker 
thereafter attends an approved training program.  No An increase may not be made 
under this paragraph, with respect to any benefit period, greater than 26 times the 
individual's weekly benefit amount.
(1)  Benefits paid to an individual under this paragraph may not be charged against 
the experience rating record of any employer, but must be charged to the General 
Fund.
(2)  No benefits Benefits may not be paid under this paragraph to any person:
(b)  Until the person has exhausted benefits for which the person is eligible 
under any unemployment insurance benefit program funded in whole or in part 
by the State Government or Federal Government; or
(c)  Who is eligible for or who has exhausted, after the effective date of this 
paragraph, trade adjustment allowances as provided by the United States Trade 
Act of 1974, Title II, Chapter 2, Public Law 93-617, United States Code, Title 
19, Section 2291, et seq., and any amendments or additions thereto, or a similar 
successor provision of that Act, except that any individual who was eligible 
for and received less than 26 weeks of benefits under the United States Trade 
Act may receive benefits for the number of weeks by which their benefits under 
that Act are less than 26 weeks.
Sec. 7.  26 MRSA §1221, sub-§3, ¶A, as amended by PL 2019, c. 585, §1, is further 
amended to read:
A.  At the time the status of an employing unit is ascertained to be that of an employer, 
the commissioner shall establish and maintain, until the employer status is terminated, 
for the employer an experience rating record, to which are credited all the contributions 
that the employer pays on the employer's own behalf. This chapter may not be 
construed to grant any employer or individuals in the employer's service prior claims 
or rights to the amounts paid by the employer into the fund. Benefits paid to an eligible 
individual under the Employment Security Law Reemployment Assistance Program 
must be charged against the experience rating record of the claimant's most recent 
subject employer or to the General Fund if the otherwise chargeable experience rating 
record is that of an employer whose status as such has been terminated; except that no 
charge may be made to an individual employer but must be made to the General Fund 
if the commission finds that:
(1)  The claimant's separation from the claimant's last employer was for misconduct 
in connection with the claimant's employment or was voluntary without good cause 
attributable to the employer;
(2)  The claimant has refused to accept reemployment in suitable work when 
offered by a previous employer, without good cause attributable to the employer;
(3)  Benefits paid are not chargeable against any employer's experience rating 
record in accordance with section 1194, subsection 11, paragraphs B and C;
(5)  Reimbursements are made to a state, the Virgin Islands or Canada for benefits 
paid to a claimant under a reciprocal benefits arrangement as authorized in section 
1082, subsection 12, as long as the wages of the claimant transferred to the other 
state, the Virgin Islands or Canada under such an arrangement are less than the 
amount of wages for insured work required for benefit purposes by section 1192, 
subsection 5;
(6)  The claimant was hired by the claimant's last employer to fill a position left 
open by a Legislator given a leave of absence under chapter 7, subchapter 5‑A, and 
the claimant's separation from this employer was because the employer restored 
the Legislator to the position after the Legislator's leave of absence as required by 
chapter 7, subchapter 5‑A;
(7)  The claimant was hired by the claimant's last employer to fill a position left 
open by an individual who left to enter active duty in the United States military, 
and the claimant's separation from this employer was because the employer 
restored the military serviceperson to the person's former employment upon 
separation from military service;
(8)  The claimant was hired by the claimant's last employer to fill a position left 
open by an individual given a leave of absence for family medical leave provided 
under Maine or federal law, and the claimant's separation from this employer was 
because the employer restored the individual to the position at the completion of 
the leave; or
(9)  The claimant initiated a partial separation or reduction of hours and that partial 
separation or reduction of hours was agreed to by the employee and employer.
Sec. 8.  26 MRSA §1221-B, sub-§5, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 381, §1, is 
amended to read:
C.  Could cause services in the employ of the Indian tribe to be excepted from 
employment for purposes of obtaining benefits under the Employment Security Law 
Reemployment Assistance Program.
Sec. 9.  36 MRSA §5219-XX, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2021, c. 181, Pt. A, §13, 
is further amended to read:
2.  Credit allowed.  A taxpayer engaged in the production of renewable chemicals in 
the State who has complied with subsection 5 and the rules adopted under that subsection 
is allowed a credit against the tax imposed by this Part on income derived during the taxable 
year from the production of renewable chemicals in the amount of 8¢ per pound of 
renewable chemical produced in the State as long as the taxpayer demonstrates to the 
Department of Economic and Community Development that at least 75% of the employees 
of the contractors hired or retained to harvest renewable biomass used in the production of 
the renewable chemicals meet the eligibility conditions specified in the Employment 
Security Law Reemployment Assistance Program.
If the taxpayer does not contract directly with those hired or retained to harvest the 
renewable biomass, the taxpayer may obtain the necessary documentation under this 
subsection from the landowner or other entity that contracts directly.
Sec. 10.  39-A MRSA §220, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1991, c. 885, Pt. A, §8 and 
affected by §§9 to 11, is amended to read:
1.  Reduction for unemployment benefits.  Compensation paid under this Act, except 
compensation under section 212, subsection 3 and lump sum settlements, to any employee 
for any period for which the employee is receiving or has received benefits under the 
Employment Security Law Reemployment Assistance Program, Title 26, chapter 13, must 
be reduced by the amount of the unemployment benefits.
SUMMARY
This bill renames the Employment Security Law the Reemployment Assistance 
Program and establishes the maximum amount of unemployment benefits at 14 weeks if 
the State's average unemployment rate is 5.5% or below, with an additional week added for 
every 0.5% the rate is above 5.5% to a maximum of 26 weeks of benefits.