Lawmaker Urges Retroactive Unemployment Benefits

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Lawmaker Urges Retroactive Unemployment Benefits

By HOWARD FINE

Staff Reporter

State lawmakers are moving to make the recently passed hike in benefits to jobless workers retroactive to Sept. 11

That $5.4 billion hike in unemployment insurance benefits, which passed the Legislature in September and was quickly signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis, currently is set to take effect on Jan. 1. It raises individual weekly unemployment benefits from $230 to $330 on Jan. 1 and to $450 on Jan. 1 2005

But State Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, who authored the unemployment insurance benefit hike, said last week that he plans to introduce a bill when the Legislature reconvenes to make the benefit hikes retroactive to Sept. 11. This would help the 14,000 workers statewide believed to have lost their jobs as a direct result of the Sept. 11 attacks, mostly at airports and in travel-related industries.

“The circumstances in the aftermath of Sept. 11 are truly unique and those that have lost their jobs as a result deserve this increase,” Alarcon said

Last week, Gov. Gray Davis said he supports making the benefit hike retroactive, although he hasn’t seen Alarcon’s proposal

No estimates were given on the additional costs of making the change

Alarcon said he plans to introduce the bill in a special session of the Legislature that is expected to run concurrently with the new session next month. The session is slated to deal with the slumping economy and the possible placement of billions of dollars in public infrastructure bonds on ballots next year. (Bills passed in special session take effect immediately, not the following Jan. 1 as bills in regular sessions do.)

But Alarcon’s bill faces several potential hurdles. First, if it is to pass in a special session and take effect immediately, it must garner two-thirds votes in each house, which means it will need some Republican support

Also, Alarcon has said he wants to extend the retroactive benefits back to July 1, which would encompass up to 200,000 workers who have lost their jobs since then

But extending the benefit hikes beyond the immediate pool of workers directly affected by the Sept. 11 fallout is certain to arouse opposition from employer groups. These groups opposed Alarcon’s original bill on grounds that it would deplete the state’s unemployment insurance fund and force steep hikes in employer contributions to replenish that fund

The state chamber of commerce is also likely to oppose any such measure.

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