Bills would extend unemployment benefits

The state Senate approved a bill Monday that would extend unemployment benefits for Virginians in job-training programs and providing benefits to people who lose their jobs for compelling family reasons.

Under Senate Bill 239, Virginians who are in job-training programs would receive an additional 26 weeks of unemployment. Benefits currently run 12 to 26 weeks.

Taxes on businesses will go up to fund the increase.

People who lose their jobs because their spouse is relocating to another job would be eligible for benefits under the legislation. And people who have to leave for personal family emergencies, such as a spouse falling into ill health, would be covered as well.

Businesses generally oppose the legislation, which would increase their taxes to fund unemployment benefits.

“People will now not have to look for work to receive unemployment benefits, and employers are footing the bill,” said Keith Cheatham of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

A companion measure – House Bill 647 – already is pending before the House Commerce and Labor Committee.

The House and Senate bills would increase by $2.44 the amount an employer must pay into the Unemployment Trust Fund for each employee on its payroll every year. The total unemployment tax in Virginia will be $95 per employee next year. It is scheduled to rise to $180 the following year and $264 the year after that.

A motivating factor for passing the legislation is the amount of federal stimulus money the state would qualify for under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“[$125 million] could be given to the state from the federal government for adding just these two provisions,” said Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Tazewell.

Last year lawmakers voted to reject the stimulus money because of the federal stipulations to extend benefits to more people for longer. The offer from the federal government is still on the table. The vote passed Monday 31-9 in favor of the legislation, with nine republicans voting against and nine for. All Senate Democrats voted in favor of the measure. It will now go to the Republican-majority House of Delegates.

The $125 million would go into the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund, which pays for unemployment benefits in Virginia. The fund desperately needs money; it currently is borrowing from the federal government to stay solvent.

“Coverage for personal emergencies is something good which the state has never really considered,” said Sen. John Watkins, R-Midlothian.

Watkins is the chief sponsor of SB 239. Puckett is a co-sponsor, along with Democratic Sens. Mamie Locke of Hampton and W. Roscoe Reynolds of Martinsville.

A companion bill in the House is also before the House Commerce and Labor Committee.

According to the Virginia Employment Commission, the state needs about $20 million a week to provide for unemployment benefits.

“The state, over the next four years, will have to borrow at least $1.25 billion from the federal government to pay for unemployment,” said Don Lillywhite, the commission’s director of employment information services.

Maximum Weekly Unemployment Benefits, 2009
U.S. average: $396
Virginia: $378
North Carolina: $494
Maryland: $380
West Virginia: $424
Washington: $359
Source: Virginia Employment Commission

Christian Wright is a journalism student at VCU. He contributed this story through the Capital News Service.