By AP
Frankfort, KY – A bill seeking to fix an imbalance in Kentucky's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund cleared its first hurdle Thursday with support from business and labor. The measure won bipartisan approval from the House Labor and Industry Committee. The bill would gradually raise the amount of state taxes paid by Kentucky employers to support the trust fund, which has been under strain as more Kentuckians lose jobs and seek benefits. But the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce says the bill would actually save Kentucky employers more than $300 million over the next decade. That's because Kentucky is borrowing huge sums from the federal government to keep the trust fund solvent. Taxes on employers automatically go up when a state keeps borrowing to keep its trust fund afloat.