Author: James McAllister
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Kansas Department of Labor announces unemployment insurance modernization contract
The Kansas Department of Labor (KDL) announced on April 5 that the state chose Tata Consultancy Services to update the current IT system for processing unemployment insurance claims. The KDL said the project would take multiple years to complete, but the state had not released a timeline or budget as of April 5. Kansas launched…
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Kentucky governor signs bill extending unemployment tax rate freeze
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) signed House Bill 144 into law on March 24, freezing the state’s unemployment insurance tax rate at 2020 pre-pandemic levels for 2022. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce estimated businesses would have paid about $70 more in taxes per employee if the tax rate had unfrozen. Kentucky’s unemployment insurance tax rate…
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U.S. weekly unemployment insurance claims drop to lowest level since 1969
New applications for U.S. unemployment insurance benefits dropped 28,000 for the week ending March 19 to a seasonally adjusted 187,000. The number is the lowest recorded since September 1969. The weekly drop also brought the four-week moving average as of March 19 down to 211,750 from 223,250 as of the week ending March 12. Weekly…
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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…