Author: James McAllister
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Illinois governor signs measure to pay $2.7 billion of unemployment fund debt
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed an amendment to Senate Bill 2803 on March 25 allocating $2.7 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to help pay down the state’s $4.5 billion Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund debt. The state will still have $1.8 billion of outstanding debt in the fund. As of March 23,…
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Iowa legislature approves measure to reduce duration of unemployment insurance benefit
Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate approved a measure on March 23 that would reduce the maximum length of unemployment insurance payments from 26 weeks to 16 weeks. The state House passed HF 2355, and the Senate approved an amended version the same day. The Senate’s version added a one-week waiting period for claimants…
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Michigan governor signs unemployment insurance spending bill
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) on March 28 signed HB 5525, which contained $139.8 million in funding for the state’s unemployment insurance program. The bill directed $100 million of federal coronavirus relief funding into the state’s unemployment trust fund. The remaining funds were earmarked to cover administrative improvements to the Unemployment Insurance Agency and fund…
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Massachusetts officials announce bond sales to replenish the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund
Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workplace Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta announced on March 25 that the state intends to issue between $2 billion and $3 billion of bonds to help replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund. The move is aimed at relieving employers in the state of the full responsibility for paying down the…
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Virginia governor announces reduction in initial unemployment claims backlog
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) announced Feb. 21 that the Virginia Employment Commission had reduced the backlog of pending unpaid unemployment insurance claims (that were awaiting a determination of eligibility) from about 25,000 to roughly 16,000 since Jan. 15. The change represented a backlog reduction of about 36%. Youngkin also announced the commission processed about…
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Massachusetts announces end of facial recognition requirement for unemployment insurance
The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance announced Feb. 23 that it would suspend the use of facial recognition technology through ID.me as a way for unemployment insurance claimants to verify their identities. The department cited decreased claim volumes as the basis for the decision. The change still allows claimants to verify their identities virtually through…
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Michigan governor signs bill retroactively waiving able and available to work requirements for pandemic unemployment aid
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a bill on Feb. 28 allowing part-time workers who applied for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to keep their benefits. The law may also allow certain workers who were initially denied pandemic unemployment benefits due to part-time work or inability to work to claim retroactive benefits through appeal to the…
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Idaho governor signs bill locking a lower unemployment tax rate for two years
Idaho Governor Brad Little (R) signed House Bill 450 into law on Feb. 18, lowering Idaho’s unemployment insurance tax rate for the next two years. The state estimated the lower unemployment tax range would save Idaho employers $64 million for the duration of the tax cut. Employers pay state unemployment taxes to fund the unemployment…
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Michigan announces unemployment insurance tax forms for 2021 are available online
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency announced Feb. 22, 2022, that 1099-G forms are available for anyone who received unemployment insurance benefits in 2021. Residents who claimed unemployment benefits in 2021 have to have the form to file state and federal tax returns. The form includes information on the amounts of benefits claimants received and the…
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Senators argue against private facial recognition for unemployment insurance proof of identity
U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) published a letter to the U.S. labor secretary on Feb. 15 arguing against the outsourcing of facial recognition and identity verification for unemployment insurance benefits to the private sector. The Senators argued outsourcing unemployment identity verification processes potentially created privacy risks for claimants.…