SB 170 Summary

• Amends Alaska Employment Security Act to allow federally recognized tribes and their wholly owned subdivisions, subsidiaries, or businesses to elect reimbursable employer status, conforming state law to federal requirements under 26 U.S.C. 3301-3311.

• Establishes that federally recognized tribes electing reimbursable employer status must reimburse the unemployment compensation fund for full regular and extended benefits paid to employees, rather than just non-federally reimbursable benefits.

• Redefines "base period" for unemployment benefit eligibility to include the four most recently completed calendar quarters before the benefit year if an individual would otherwise be ineligible due to the standard base period definition.

• Adds "federally recognized tribe" as a defined term meaning tribes recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Interior under 25 U.S.C. 479a, including any wholly owned subdivisions, subsidiaries, or business enterprises.

• Implements provisions effective immediately, except for the base period redefinition which takes effect January 1, 2010; legislation addresses potential loss of $20 million in federal administrative funding and $111 million in employer tax credits if Alaska did not comply with federal unemployment insurance requirements.