Last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed a supplemental budget that would utilize $1 Billion in federal pandemic relief funds to replenish the state Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic with its accompanying layoffs, shutdowns and business closures, the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, funded by a payroll tax on employers, was quickly depleted and headed for as much as a $4 billion deficit by the end of this year. The legislature previously took steps to freeze the unemployment insurance rate businesses are required to pay, but didn’t address the need to replenish the trust fund. With the supplemental budget proposal from the Governor, the legislature is now considering using “higher than expected tax receipts” along with federal COVID relief funds to ensure the solvency of the trust fund going forward without saddling the business community with the entirety of the trust fund’s needs. Massachusetts, like most – if not all – other states, is looking at a surplus between excess tax receipts and federal pandemic relief funds of approximately $5 billion.