ESD outlines status of bills affecting UI: WARN changes, employer reporting and striking‑worker notices

Josh Dye, government relations director, briefed the committee on four bills the agency has tracked this session.

Dye described an agency‑request bill to modify the State WARN Act (referred to in the transcript as "senate bill 6106") and said the bill’s original language removed tribes from the employer definition and proposed restricting employee names and addresses from public records disclosures; subsequent amendments narrowed the list of notice recipients to the agency and bargaining units.

He said House Bill 2563 (an OAH/agency request bill concerning UI notices) did not pass the policy cutoff. Dye also cited a UI employer‑reporting bill (transcript reference: "laws 5874") that would allow the agency to waive certain incomplete wage‑report penalties; that measure had been voted out of rules/laws. Dye said another bill (referred to as "Senate 6134") would require the agency to notify striking workers about potential overpayment exposure and that it was scheduled for hearing and executive session on the committee calendar.

"So a little bit of a shorter list that we're going through," Dye said, inviting questions and additional requests for detail from committee members.

Committee members did not vote on any legislation at the meeting. Dye closed by offering to provide more detail on any bill of interest to committee members outside the session.