Kansas SB 512 alters unemployment insurance rules by removing temporary unemployment caps and excluding supplemental benefits from wages

AN ACT concerning unemployment insurance; removing the eight-week return to work expectation from the definition of temporary unemployment; deleting the eight-week cap on temporary unemployment; removing the secretary's authority and criteria to grant eight-week extension increments, employer reporting duties for extensions and the industry-specific eligibility for extensions; excluding payments under compliant employer-sponsored supplemental unemployment benefit plans from the definition of wages; removing the negative debt write-off and forgiveness mechanism that conditionally moved employers to rate groups N11 for three years and the related option to avoid a negative debt write-off through voluntary contributions; prohibiting charging contributing employers in ready-mixed concrete and specified construction industries for benefit charges arising from temporary layoffs; amending K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 44-703, 44-710, 44-710a and 44-775 and repealing the existing sections.

The bill alters employer tax calculations, debt write-offs, and benefit charging rules for seasonal and construction industries while restructuring temporary unemployment definitions and supplemental benefit exemptions for workers.