The 1993 General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution 234 (Appendix 1), continuing a joint subcommittee examining the funding needs of the Virginia unemployment compensation system. The joint subcommittee is composed of members from the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor and the House Labor and Commerce Committee.

The joint subcommittee convened a meeting in 1993 to receive the Virginia Employment Commission's (VEC) annual briefing on the unemployment insurance trust fund's current and projected adequacy. In addition to its oversight of the trust fund, the joint subcommittee has historically served as a forum for labor and business discussions of unemployment insurance benefits and tax levels. When requested to do so by standing committees of the General Assembly, it has also reviewed pending legislation which would affect Virginia's unemployment compensation laws.

The following General Assembly members were appointed to the joint subcommittee: Senators Schewel from Lynchburg, R.J. Holland from Windsor, Chichester from Fredericksburg, Russell from Bon Air, and Reasor from Bluefield, together with Delegates Murphy from Warsaw, Jones from Norfolk, Armstrong from Martinsville, Fisher from Vienna and Wilkins from Amherst. Senator Schewel and Delegate Murphy served as Chairman and Vice-Chairman, respectively.

The joint subcommittee met in Richmond at the General Assembly Building on October 11, 1993. It received the VEC's briefing, presented by VEC Commissioner Ralph Cantrell, on the unemployment insurance trust fund's ability to meet current and future unemployment compensation claims. Additionally, the VEC reported its findings concerning the "work sharing" program concept, a study begun in 1992 at the subcommittee's request. The VEC recommended that the concept not be incorporated into Virginia's unemployment compensation program.

The joint subcommittee learned that the unemployment insurance trust fund is currently at 64 percent of adequacy, but that the VEC projects this figure will rise to approximately 92 percent by 1997, assuming no significant changes in tax or benefit levels and a constant statewide unemployment rate of five percent or lower. The subcommittee received no recommendations from the VEC or any members of the labor or business communities for changes in any facet of Virginia's unemployment compensation program, nor did any subcommittee member suggest any. Accordingly, the joint subcommittee concluded its study for the year, recommending that the information it received be transmitted to the Governor and the 1995 Session of the General Assembly.