NOARK Legislation Blog - May 2011 Posts

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

US Department Of Labor Provides $3.8 Million Grant To Help Arkansas Residents Recover From Severe Storms

by NOARK Webmaster

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $3,758,327 National Emergency Grant to assist with clean-up and recovery efforts in the wake of the severe storms, tornadoes and associated flooding that struck Arkansas last month.

"Many communities in Arkansas are suffering from the devastation of recent storms," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

FTC Settles with Firms over Failure to Protect Employee Data

by NOARK Webmaster

Sensitive information of nearly 65,000 employees allegedly compromised

By Roy Maurer

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered two companies—one providing payroll and human resource services and another providing immigration law compliance services—to undergo third-party security audits every other year f

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Summary of Arkansas Act 585 of 2011

by NOARK Webmaster

An Act to Expedite Administrative Tax Appeals and Promote Access to Justice

Hearings on Appeals

The primary purpose of the Act is to shorten the increasing period of time between filing and administrative appeal with the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) and the administrative hearing. The Act makes the following changes in procedure: Read more...

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Summary of Arkansas Act 861 of 2011

by NOARK Webmaster   Edited Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Satutory Changes in Law
Effective July 26, 2011

Minimum Weekly Benefit Amount

• Currently indexed at 12% of average weekly wage.
• Effective 7/1/12: Displace indexing with fixed rate of $81.

ADWS Estimated Savings: $3.5 million

Maximum Weekly Benefit Amount

• Currently indexed
   Read more...

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Summary of Arkansas Act 754 of 2011

by NOARK Webmaster

An Act to Decrease the Sales and Use Tax on Natural Gas and Electricity used by Manufacturers

Overview

The Arkansas sales and use tax rate on electricity and natural gas used in an "actual manufacturing process" has been reduced since 2007, as follows:

Date

State Tax Rate

Bef  Read more... Thursday, May 19, 2011 HHS Announces MLR Waivers by NOARK Webmaster The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Friday that it will waive the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA) medical loss ratio (MLR) provisions for the individual health insurance market in New Hampshire and Nevada as a result of state waiver applications. Nevada’s request to reduce the MLR requirement from 80 to  Read more... Thursday, May 19, 2011 Beebe: Labor Board Ruling Could Be 'Detrimental' by NOARK Webmaster (Reprinted with permission from TalkBusiness.net) Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday that a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling against Boeing could be “detrimental” to Arkansas’ economic development efforts. In 2008 and 2009, Boeing searched for potential new manufacturing locations at which to build the company&  Read more... Monday, May 02, 2011 Changes to Healthcare Cost Reporting Requirements by NOARK Webmaster Employers will be responsible for reporting to employees the total cost of their group health benefit plan coverage on their W-2 forms under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The reporting requirements are expected to apply to the 2012 W-2 forms which is information employers must report to employees in January 2013. This requirement is information  Read more...   View the NOARK Vendor Directory © 2010-2012 Northwest Arkansas Human Resources Association, Inc. | Site design by Copper Cup Images