House Bill 485 - Employment Security Act Amendments

• Removes obsolete language from Section 72-1350 regarding 2005-2006 base tax rates and revises terminology for taxable wage base and rates.

• Modifies base tax rate calculation by changing the minimum rate from 0.63% to 0.6% and the maximum rate from 3.364% to 3.4%.

• Revises Section 72-1367 to establish maximum weekly benefit amounts based on a table using 55% of state average weekly wage and the calculated base tax rate, effective for new claims filed in January 2006 and thereafter.

• Changes maximum weeks of benefit entitlement from a fixed scale to a sliding scale based on both the ratio of total base period earnings to highest quarter earnings and the official forecasted unemployment rate, ranging from 10 to 26 weeks.

• Corrects terminology in Section 72-1372 by changing "calculated" to "determined" regarding the weekly benefit amount calculation.