OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed into law a $300 million tax break for businesses and temporary pay increase for people newly claiming unemployment, marking an end to a week of frenzied negotiations among legislators, business and labor interests.
The new law halts a scheduled 36 percent jump that businesses were about to see in their unemployment taxes. It also makes the tax break permanent.
The bill also includes a $25 a week pay increase to people claiming unemployment between March and November of this year. The pay bump is temporary, though. That money is being drawn from $68 million the state is getting from the federal government.
Gregoire had demanded that the Legislature deliver a bill this week. They did so Friday afternoon.
She says that the bill is good for Washington businesses and workers.