Rhode Island General Laws
Chapter 28-43 - Employment Security — Contributions
Section 28-43-8.5. - Job development assessment.

§ 28-43-8.5. Job development assessment.
(a) For the tax years 2011 through 2014, each employer subject to this chapter shall be required to pay a job development assessment of fifty-one hundredths of one percent (0.51%) of that employer’s taxable payroll, in addition to any other payment that employer is required to make under any other provision of this chapter; provided, that the assessment shall not be considered as part of the individual employer’s contribution rate for the purpose of determining the individual employer’s balancing charge pursuant to § 28-43-9; provided, further, upon full repayment of any outstanding principal and/or interest due on Title XII advances received from the federal government in accordance with the provisions of section 1201 of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. § 1321], including any principal and/or interest that accrues on debt from a state revenue bond or other financing mechanism used to repay the Title XII advances, then the job development assessment shall be reduced to twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%) beginning the tax quarter after the full repayment occurs. The tax rate for all employers subject to the contribution provisions of chapters 42 — 44 of this title shall be reduced by twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%). For tax year 2015 and subsequent years, except tax year 2019, each employer subject to this chapter shall be required to pay a job development assessment of twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%) of that employer’s taxable payroll, in addition to any other payment which that employer is required to make under any other provision of this chapter; provided, that the assessment shall not be considered as part of the individual employer’s contribution rate for the purpose of determining the individual employer’s balancing charge pursuant to § 28-43-9. The tax rate for all employers subject to contribution provisions of chapters 42 — 44 of this title shall be reduced by twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%). For tax year 2019, each employer subject to this chapter shall be required to pay a base job development assessment of twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%) of that employer’s taxable payroll, plus a job development assessment adjustment as computed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, in addition to any other payment which that employer is required to make under any other provision of this chapter; provided, that:
(1) The assessment shall not be considered as part of the individual employer’s contribution rate for the purpose of determining the individual employer’s balancing charge pursuant to § 28-43-9; and
(2) A job development adjustment shall be computed only if tax schedule A through H is scheduled to be in effect for the ensuing calendar year; and
(3) The employment security fund earned interest in the prior calendar year.
(b) On September 30, 2018, the job development assessment adjustment shall be computed to determine the job development assessment that will be in effect during the ensuing calendar year. The adjustment shall be computed by dividing the interest earned by the employment security fund in the prior calendar year by one hundred ten percent (110%) of the taxable wages in the prior calendar year. The result shall be rounded down to the nearest one hundredth of a percent (0.01%).
(1) In no event may the revenues made available to the job development fund by the job development assessment adjustment exceed seventy-five percent (75%) of the interest earned by the employment security fund in the prior calendar year. All revenues collected after seventy-five percent (75%) of the employment security fund’s prior year interest has been deposited into the job development fund shall be deposited into the employment security fund forthwith.
(c) The tax rate for all employers subject to contribution provisions of chapters 42 — 44 of this title shall be reduced by the total combined job development assessment and adjustment as determined under subsection (b) of this section.
(d) In no event may the job development assessment adjustment negatively impact contributing employers by either preventing the tax schedule to be in effect for the ensuing calendar year from dropping from a higher schedule or causing the tax schedule to be in effect for the ensuing calendar year to be raised to a higher schedule.
(1) If the tax schedule, as determined by the reserve ratio of the employment security fund on September 30, 2018, would be different than the tax schedule determined if the unadjusted reserve ratio of the fund were used to determine the tax schedule for the ensuing calendar year, the department shall do one of the following to ensure that the tax schedule to be in effect for the ensuing calendar year is unaffected by the job development assessment adjustment:
(i) Make any necessary transfers from available job development fund resources to the employment security trust fund to establish a reserve ratio that would represent the ratio that would have been in effect should the job development assessment adjustment not have been performed in the prior year; or
(ii) Perform no job development assessment adjustment in the ensuing calendar year.
History of Section.P.L. 1988, ch. 240, § 3; P.L. 1993, ch. 296, § 2; P.L. 1994, ch. 15, § 2; P.L. 1998, ch. 369, § 2; P.L. 1998, ch. 401, § 2; P.L. 2000, ch. 383, § 2; P.L. 2010, ch. 23, art. 22, § 3; P.L. 2013, ch. 144, art. 14, § 2; P.L. 2014, ch. 145, art. 11, § 2; P.L. 2018, ch. 47, art. 11, § 2.

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