• mandate transfer of experience from one employer to another when there is substantially common ownership, management, or control; apply to both total and partial transfers;
• prohibit transfer of experience if a person becomes an employer by acquiring an existing business and if the purpose of the acquisition is to obtain a lower contribution rate; apply to persons, who prior to the acquisition of the business, (a) had no employees and (b) had some employees but not enough to be an employer for state law purposes;
• provide meaningful civil and criminal penalties for knowingly violating or attempting to violate the law's requirements, and for knowingly advising to violate the law; and
• establish procedures to identify the transfer or acquisition of a business for purposes of the law.

• develop small business educational events and materials that explain the process of the department's determination of whether an individual is an employee or independent contractor as specified;
• collect certain data related to employee/independent contractor determinations; and
• report its findings and any recommendations to the Legislature by July 1, 2006.

• performed the service under a contract or agreement providing for a guaranteed stipend opportunity, and
• received the full amount of the stipend before the ending date of the contract or agreement.

Requires cross-check of Missouri unemployment compensation recipients and applicants against the federal new hire database, Social Security Administration data, drivers license databases (effective January 1, 2007), and other federally maintained databases containing wage information.

Creates the Board of Unemployment Fund Financing which is authorized to issue, sell, and deliver interest-bearing credit instruments (bonds) to provide funds for unemployment benefits or maintain an adequate fund balance in the unemployment compensation fund.

Permits the Division to contract with consumer reporting agencies to provide secure electronic access to information in the quarterly wage report; requires the division to establish standards to safeguard the confidentiality of the information; requires the agency to require any user of such information to obtain written consent from the individual to whom the information pertains; requires the agency to require that the released information be used only to verify wage or employment information accuracy provided by the individual for a specific transaction.

Creates the Missouri State Unemployment Council to advise the Division and submit recommendations concerning the unemployment compensation program.

• The taxable wage base increases by $1,000 (instead of $500) if the unemployment compensation trust fund balance is less than or equal to $350 million on September 30.
• The taxable wage decreases by $500 the subsequent year if the unemployment compensation trust fund balance equals or exceeds $650 million (instead of $450 million) on September 30.
• For 2008, base is limited to $7,000 - $12,000.
• For 2009 base is $12,500.
• For 2010 and thereafter, base is limited to $7,000 - $13,000.

Reduces the fund balance amounts which trigger 10 percent, 20 percent, and 30 percent rate increases, effectively increasing employer tax rates.

Provides that the rate increase for employers at the maximum rate is raised from 30 percent to 40 percent for 2005 through 2007.

Increases the fund balance amounts which trigger 7 percent and 12 percent rate decreases, effectively increasing employer tax rates.

Assesses a credit instrument and financing agreement repayment surcharge on each employer if the fund is using moneys from credit instrument proceeds or from the moneys advanced financial agreements or from a combination of both; provides a formula for calculating the surcharge and for calculating each employer's proportionate share.

Provides for a surcharge of 0.25 percent to employers' contribution rates if they have been taxed at the maximum rate for 2 consecutive years or more; adds an additional annual surcharge of 0.25 percent if employers remain at the maximum rate for 3 or more years with total surcharges not to exceed 1.0 percent; adds a 0.5 percent surcharge if employers are still at the maximum rate; limits the maximum surcharge to 1.5 percent in a year.

Charges employers a temporary debt indebtedness assessment beginning in 2005 and expiring the last day of the 4^th quarter of 2007.

Assesses a surcharge when the state has outstanding Federal loans or credit instruments (bonds).

Authorizes the Board of Unemployment Fund Financing to sell interest-bearing bonds in an amount not to exceed $450 million less the principal and that mature no later than 3 years after issuance; requires all bonds to be 3 paid off by January 15, 2008; requires deposit of the proceeds in the state unemployment compensation fund.

Increases the wages needed to qualify from $1,000 in a quarter to $1,200 in 2005, $1,300 in 2006, $1,400 in 2007, and $1,500 thereafter; requires base period wages equal to 1.5 times high quarter wages, or wages in 2 quarters and base period wages equaling 1.5 times the maximum taxable wage base.

Defines, effective beginning 2007, "partially unemployed" as any week of less than full-time work if wages payable are less than the greater of the individual’s weekly benefit amount plus $20 or the weekly benefit amount plus 20 percent of the weekly benefit amount.

Changes, effective beginning 2007, the earnings disregard from $20 to the greater of $20 or 20 percent of the weekly benefit amount.

Modifies the computation of, and the maximum, weekly benefit as follows:

• 3 ¾ percent of high quarter wages up to $270 in 2006 and $280 in 2007
• 4 percent of average two highest quarters up to $300 in 2008, $310 in 2009, and $320 in 2010 and thereafter.

Provides that beginning in 2008, the 1-week waiting period will become compensable once remaining balance on the claim is less than or equal to the compensable amount for the waiting week, rather than after 9 weeks.

• an act of wanton or willful disregard of the employer's interest
• a deliberate violation of the employer's rules
• a disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his or her employee
• negligence in such a degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent or evil design, or show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer's interest or of the employee's duties and obligations to the employer.

Limits the 8-week extension for definite recall dates to a total of 16 weeks.

Provides that suspensions from work for 4 weeks or more will be treated as discharges.

Establishes that misconduct is committed if a claimant is at work with a detectible amount of alcohol or controlled substance in the claimant's system, in violation of employer's policy, and certain conditions are met; provides that claimant's wage credits are subject to cancellation if found to be in violation of such policy.

Deems a temporary employee to have voluntarily quit employment for failing to contact the temporary help firm for reassignment before filing for benefits unless the employee was not informed of the obligation to contact the firm upon completion of the assignment; provides for disqualification of benefits if found to have voluntarily quit until wages are earned in insured work equal to 10 times the claimant's weekly benefit amount.

Provides that an employer's written notification of an offer of work sent via certified mail to claimant's last known address constitutes an offer of work, and failure to accept the offer of work will disqualify the claimant for benefits until wages are earned in insured work equal to 10 times the claimant's weekly benefit amount.

Changes the disqualification for misconduct from 4-16 weeks and wages equal to 8 times the weekly benefit amount to wages equal to 6 times the weekly benefit amount.

Considers absenteeism or tardiness misconduct if it violates an employer's attendance policy and the claimant knew about the policy in advance.

Establishes fraud provisions for employers and individuals who intentionally misstate, misrepresent, or fail to disclose material facts leading to improper payment/denial of benefits; requires prompt repayment of improperly paid benefits to the fund; assesses a penalty equal to 25 percent of the amount fraudulently obtained or denied; assesses a penalty equal to l00 percent of the present amount fraudulently obtained if records indicate a prior established fraudulent overpayment /denial; provides that if the employer or individual fails to repay the benefits, the division may offset from any future unemployment benefits or take other steps necessary to recover the overpayment; provides that future benefits may not be used to offset penalties.

Provides that any person or entity perpetrating a fraud or misrepresentation for which a penalty has not been provided is guilty of a class A misdemeanor and will be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed the value of the fraud, and any person or entity who previously pled or found guilty of perpetrating a fraud or misrepresentation and subsequently violates such provision is guilty of a class D felony.

Modifies the fund reserve ratio of the tax table effectively reducing individual employer tax rates for tax years beginning on or after July 1, 2004; the rates in each schedule remain the same.

Reduces the factor on which the overall 10 percent rate increase is based, if applicable, from a fund reserve ratio of 1.0 percent to 0.5 percent for rate years beginning after July 1, 2004.

Decreases the overall rate reduction from 15 percent to 7 percent from July 1, 2004, until June 30, 2005, except that if an employer has a deficit reserve ratio of negative 35 percent or under, the employer's rate of contribution will not be reduced to less than 5.4 percent.

Extends until June 30, 2005, the requirement that each employer contribute to the health care subsidy fund an amount equal to the amount that the employer's contribution to the unemployment compensation fund is decreased.

Requires for fiscal year 2005 that all contributions to the health care subsidy fund exceeding $100 million for this fiscal year be deposited in the unemployment compensation fund.

• Provides that a licensed PEO is the employer of an assigned employee for unemployment insurance purposes, and that the levy and collection of unemployment insurance contributions, or the assignment of discrete employer numbers and the definition of the terms employing unit, employer, or employment have the effect as provided under the state unemployment insurance law.
• Requires a licensed PEO to establish the terms of a PEO agreement by a written contract between the PEO and the client company, and that such contract specify that the PEO assumes responsibility for the payment of wages to and for the payment and collection of payroll taxes on assigned employees.

Provides that a person engaged in the business of providing professional employer services must be registered; establishes registration requirements.

Requires the client company to be considered an employer of its covered employees under any agreement with professional employer organization (PEO) for purposes of unemployment compensation and temporary disability insurance; provides that a client will have the sole right to direct and control the professional or licensed activities of covered employees of a client's business, unless otherwise expressly agreed to by the client in the professional employer agreement.

• a person, corporation, or business entity maintains a personnel registry or referral service for companionship-sitters seeking employment opportunities;
• the sitters do not provide services for hire to non-profit organizations, Indian tribes or state or local governments; and
• pursuant to applicable federal legislation, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines that a companion sitter is not an employee of the person, corporation or business entity under the typical registry/referral arrangements of such person, corporation or business entity;

then companion-sitters who receive referral under the registry/referral arrangements substantially similar to those in the IRS determination will not be classified as employees of such person, corporation or business entity pursuant to the Tennessee unemployment law.

Modifies the calculation of the industry reserve ratio for new employer rate determination.

Assigns new employer rates from the Table in effect when the employer's industry reserve ratio is 0.0 percent or less (formerly minus 4.0 percent or less); depending on the Table in effect rates range from 5.0 percent to 10.0 percent (formerly 6.0 percent to 10.0 percent).

Provides that a staff leasing company will not be considered a successor employer to any client and will not acquire the experience rating of any client with whom the staff leasing company has contracted; and that the client, upon terminating its relationship with the staff leasing company, will not be considered a successor employer to the staff leasing company and will not acquire any portion of the experience history of the aggregate reserve account of the staff leasing company.

Provides that a client of a staff leasing company will be jointly and severally liable with the staff leasing company for state unemployment premiums unless such client is relieved of such joint and several liability under the Tennessee Employee Leasing Act.