Health & Fitness
Speaker's Briefing: Updating the Unemployment Insurance Program
The Legislature is circulating a letter with over 30 proposed changes to the state's Unemployment Insurance program that will help it become more efficient, responsible and fair.
I’m State Representative Robin Vos and this is the Speaker’s Briefing.
The recession in 2008 meant that a lot of good, hard-working people lost their jobs. Fortunately the Unemployment Insurance program was there to help ease the blow and get people through that tough time. Unfortunately audits and reviews have found that the program is riddled with waste, fraud and abuse. By fixing it we can ensure that people who lose a job through no fault of their own—God forbid another recession—will be able to rely on unemployment in the future.
This week members of both the Assembly and Senate circulated a letter outlining more than 30 common sense changes to the state’s Unemployment Insurance program. The changes will strengthen the state’s U-I trust fund without burdening Wisconsin employers, and will protect those who deserve unemployment compensation.
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Some are simple and add clarity to existing law. We know that it’s illegal for prisoners to collect unemployment insurance since they have to look for work to qualify, and yet in 2011 460 inmates did just that. By updating our unemployment rules and regulations we can keep the system solvent for those who really need it.
A recent study by the Tax Foundation has suggested that Wisconsin has some of the nation’s most lax unemployment laws, including many cases where an employee can receive compensation even if they were terminated for misconduct on the job. We are one of just five states that allow this; something most people agree just isn’t fair.
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Our changes will save state businesses a lot of money. The U-I trust fund has a debt to the federal government in excess of $900 million, the seventh-highest debt in the nation, due in large part to the severity of the 2008 recession. To help pay for the debt, in 2012 state businesses were hit with a $36 million assessment, essentially a tax. In 2013, if we don’t act, it will be another $19 million this year. We are proposing a refinancing plan because that money should be used to add more jobs in the state, not pay off a debt.
These and other changes will make the Unemployment Insurance system fair for everyone in Wisconsin.