Governor Steve Beshear has signed a bill that sets out a plan to pay back more than 900 million borrowed from the Federal Government for unemployment insurance benefits.
Beshear, the bill's sponsors and business leaders came together at the capital on Wednesday for the official signing of the legislation.
The bill prevents a 600 million dollar tax penalty that will save employers from paying 420 dollars in unemployment insurance per employee. Currently employers in the commonwealth only pay 63 dollars per employee.
The state had little choice but to borrow the 963 million from the Federal Government in order to keep the state's unemployment program afloat.
Unemployment numbers have gone down in recent years. In 2009 a monthly average of 128 thousand Kentuckians were collecting unemployment. That number is currently down to under 90 thousand Kentuckians.
