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Mr. NORWOOD. S. 2974.

Senator HARTKE. I might say to the Senator from Illinois there is no reason if it has passed the Senate why it couldn't be adopted as an amendment to this bill. We can pass it again twice and give it a little emphasis.

Senator Douglas. Sure.

Senator HARTKE. I want to thank the Secretary.

We will now adjourn until, according to the instructions of the chairman, at 9 a.m., in accordance with the preference of the acting chairman, at 10 a.m. That is on Friday.

(Whereupon, at 12:45 p.m., the committee adjourned, to reconvene at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 15, 1966.)

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AMENDMENTS OF 1966

FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1966

U.S. SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9 a.m., in room 2221, New Senate Office Building, Senator John J. Williams presiding. Present: Senators Long (chairman), Douglas, McCarthy, Hartke, Williams (presiding), Bennett, and Dirksen.

Also present: Senator Aiken, of Vermont.

Also present: Tom Vail, chief counsel to the committee.

Senator WILLIAMS. The hearing will come to order. Our witnesses today are all State administrators. These are the people who administer the unemployment compensation laws and pay out the benefits.

The president of the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies, and a committee of that group, is scheduled to be the first witness.

I understand that the administrator from Texas who is appearing separately would like to make his statement before the interstate conference. Without objection, that will be done.

Mr. Birdwell, would you take the stand.

STATEMENT OF W. S. BIRDWELL, JR., COMMISSIONER, TEXAS EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION

Mr. BIRDWELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I am W. S. Birdwell, Jr., one of the three commissioners from the Texas Employment Commission.

Texas is one of four States that possesses a full-time commission which is composed of one member to represent labor, one member who represents business, and one member who represents the public. In the case of Texas, the member representing the public is always the chairman of the commission.

The three commissioners have closely followed the progress of the proposed amendments to the unemployment compensation laws which I will refer to as H.R. 15119. The three commissioners with their director appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee in 1965 and submitted testimony. The Texas Employment Commission volunteered the services of our very capable staff to the Ways and Means Committee during their executive session when they gave studious and generous study in the writing of H.R. 15119.

After careful consideration, and feeling the individual responsibility of representing our various interests, the three commissioners of the State Employment Commission of Texas unanimously endorse

the updating provisions of H.R. 15119 and feel that the House Ways and Means Committee has done an outstanding job in the writing of this bill.

With the chairman's permission, I would like now to put on another hat in which I speak solely as a representative of the employers of Texas. I think that this committee would be interested in knowingand is entitled to know-that the vast majority of the business interests of Texas are willing to accept their responsibility in paying the vastly increased tax to support this program.

As you gentlemen know, if the present provisions of H.R. 15119 should become law, the Federal tax on the employers of this country would increase 50 percent the first year, beginning in January 1967; and another 30-percent increase in January 1969, making a total of an 80-percent increase in the Federal unemployment tax in 2 years. Mr. Chairman, in all honesty, I cannot say that the employers of Texas, whom I represent, relish the prospect of an 80-percent increase in their taxes, but they are willing to accept the burden of this expanded program. As you know, this entire program is financed 100 percent by tax on the employers of the Nation.

I thank the chairman for this opportunity to present the views of the business community of Texas, as well as the official views of the Texas Employment Commission.

Senator WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Birdwell.

Are there any questions?

Mr. BIRDWELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator WILLIAMS. Mr. Hill.

J. Eldred Hill.

STATEMENT OF J. ELDRED HILL, JR., PRESIDENT, INTERSTATE CONFERENCE OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES; ACCOMPANIED BY CURTIS P. HARDING, RICHARD L. COFFMAN, PAUL RAUSHENBUSH, JACK B. BROWN, HENRY ROTHELL

Mr. HILL. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is J. Eldred Hill, Jr., and I am a commissioner of the Virginia Employment Commission and president of the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies.

My appearance here today is on behalf of the interstate conference which is an organization composed of the chief State officials administering the employment security program in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

The basic objectives of the interstate.conference include efforts to improve the effectiveness of our unemployment compensation laws and employment service programs and where desirable to propose new State and Federal legislation in the field of employment security.

It is the pursuit of this objective that prompts my appearance here today. My statement will be brief and is intended primarily to acquaint you with the role the interstate conference has played in the development of H.R. 15119 and to acquaint you with the present position of the State administrators with respect to this legislation. I will not endeavor to cover the many ramifications of the issues involved, but I will touch on the major improvements contained in the bill and then I will defer to the committee for any questions you may have. I have with me here today several of the Nation's out

standing State administrators who, with your permission, will assist me in responding to your inquiries. All of these gentlemen have had long experience in the employment security field and each of them participated in the executive sessions of the House Ways and Means Committee when this bill was formulated.

Mr. Chairman, if I may, I would like to introduce these gentlemen to you and to the committee at this time.

First, Mr. Curtis P. Harding, administrator of the Utah Department of Employment Security;

Mr. Richard L. Coffman, administrator, Texas Employment Com. mission:

Mr. Paul Raushenbush, director of unemployment compensation, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin:

Mr. Jack B. Brown, executive director, Bureau of Employment Security of Pennsylvania; and

Mr. Henry Rothell, director of unemployment insurance, Texas Employment Commission.

Mr. Chairman, when the administration's proposal for improving the unemployment insurance program was first presented to the Congress last year the State administrators had not been afforded an opportunity to participate in the development of the measure that was presented. Although the unemployment insurance program has been a Federal-State program since its inception, with the States being the operating arm of this partnership, we were excluded from the discussions and deliberations which produced the original proposal. When this fact was revealed to the Ways and Means Committee during its public hearings last August, several members of that committee requested the interstate conference to submit its recommendations for improving the unemployment insurance program. In response the conference established a working committee of 10 State administrators and after several meetings this special committee agreed upon a num ber of things that might be done to improve the program. Then in January of this year a special 2-day national meeting of the entire conference membership was held and the final recommendations were formulated. Those recommendations were presented to the Ways and Means Committee at a special public hearing on March 15 and 16 of this year. When the Ways and Means Committee commenced its executive sessions, the interstate conference was invited to participate and for 2 months we worked long and hard to produce H.R. 15119, which as you know, promptly won overwhelming approval in the House.

H.R. 15119 does not include all of the items recommended by the interstate conference. Some of the things we recommended were modified and some items were included which we had not considered. During the extensive work performed by the Ways and Means Committee, it became apparent that some of the objectives the conference sought could best be obtained in ways different from those we had proposed; and it, likewise, became apparent that some of the things we had proposed would result in inequities among the various States. But we were given the opportunity to work with the committee in a conscientious effort to devise the best possible bill. We believe the bipartisan measure finally reported by the committee and passed by the House is a sound and practical solution.

Undoubtedly there are those who will argue that this is a watereddown proposal compared with the original administration bill. They

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