Topeka ? Businesses would receive about $175 million in tax relief over two years under a bill that went Thursday to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius after legislators broke an impasse over speeding up the delivery of jobless workers’ first unemployment checks.

The tax relief has been tied by Sebelius, her fellow Democrats and some dissident Republicans with a move to stop requiring workers to wait a week to start receiving unemployment benefits after they are deemed eligible.

It became part of a bill reducing by 40 percent or more payments businesses must make to the state to finance jobless benefits. Business groups and GOP leaders opposed ending the waiting week.

The plan brokered by House and Senate negotiators stopped short of eliminating the waiting week for all unemployed workers, through some would get their first checks earlier. The House approved the compromise 123-0, then the Senate by a 40-0 vote. Sebelius is expected to sign the bill.

“We set out to try to do something for unemployed workers,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka. “We accomplished that.”

Senate President Steve Morris complemented legislators for unanimous support in both chambers for what he called “a contentious issue.”

“I think you all should pat yourselves on the back,” said Morris, R-Hugoton.

The relief provided by the bill to businesses would vary, with employers involved in few or no unemployment claims receiving the biggest breaks.

About 13,000 businesses wouldn’t have to pay anything. An additional 19,000 would have their payment rates cut in half, and the remaining 19,000 would see their rates reduced 40 percent.

Senators approved the tax relief measure last month, but the House later added the proposal to eliminate the waiting week for unemployment benefits. That left senators with the option of approving the House’s version and sending it to Sebelius, who would have signed it.

But Wednesday night, the Senate voted 23-17 against doing that, forcing negotiations between the two chambers. The negotiators met Thursday morning because legislators face a looming deadline. Department of Labor officials have said that if the bill doesn’t reach Sebelius by today, businesses won’t see any relief until next year.

“It’s a good political compromise,” said Rep. Steve Brunk, R-Bel Aire, his chamber’s lead negotiator.

Business groups and GOP leaders opposed eliminating the waiting week because it would eat up $30 million over two years from funds employers already have paid to the state.

Under the compromise, starting July 1, workers who are caught in mass layoffs won’t have to wait an extra week for their first checks.

For companies with 50 to 499 employees, one-third of the employees would have to be laid off; for companies with 500 or more, 100 layoffs would be required.

Other workers would still see a week’s delay, but three weeks later, they would have two checks bunched in one week. That would cost $20 million over two years.

Will Leiker, a lobbyist for the Kansas AFL-CIO, said labor organizations can live with the compromise. He said he was surprised by the resistance to eliminating the waiting week, given the relief businesses are receiving.

“I couldn’t imagine the energy expended by some people and groups to deny Kansans an ability to feed their children if they become unemployed,” he said. “We’re talking about pennies, versus dollars. Sometimes, fairness has to come into the equation.”

But business groups noted that only employers pay the tax financing unemployment benefits, meaning they would bear any additional costs.

“We’re OK with it,” Jeff Glendening, a Kansas Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, said of the compromise. “We both gave a little.”