Coronavirus-era unemployment benefits could continue in bill
A measure to keep certain unemployment benefits that were expanded in Georgia during the coronavirus pandemic cleared a key state House committee Wednesday, June 17.
The move comes as Georgia continues grappling with the economic fallout from coronavirus, which prompted roughly 2 million people to file unemployment claims and shot the state’s jobless rate up to nearly 12% in April.
Amid the pandemic, those who qualified for unemployment benefits were granted leeway to collect payments for up to 26 weeks instead of the usual 14 weeks, and enjoyed a boost in the allowance rate that let them keep up to $300 per week in wages earned – instead of the usual $50 – on top of their benefits.
Those expanded benefits are set to expire once Gov. Brian Kemp ends the state’s public health emergency, which currently runs through June.
But language added this week to a bill originally dealing with paid sick leave proposes to let the state labor commissioner keep those expanded benefits largely in place, depending on the state’s jobless rate.
The number of weeks would increase incrementally from 14 weeks when the state’s jobless rate is 4.5% up to 26 weeks when the jobless rate is 10% or higher.
The labor commissioner would also have authority to set the weekly deductible threshold at between $50 and $300, according to the revised bill.
Senate Bill 408, as revised, would also grant the labor commissioner powers during a statewide governor-declared emergency to modify the maximum benefit amount and relax rules on claims processing, unemployment insurance tax filing deadlines and work-search reporting.
It would also allow the labor commissioner to establish a work-sharing program that lets employers avoid layoffs by reducing their employees’ work hours but giving them prorated unemployment benefits.
Without the bill’s passage, the expanded unemployment benefits would return to normal levels once the governor ends the statewide public health emergency, said Jeffrey Babcock, the labor department’s legal services manager.
“Those provisions are temporary and they will end,” Babcock said. “The purpose of this bill is to get some more permanence to that.”
Sponsored by Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, the bill cleared the House Industry and Labor Committee on Wednesday, June 18, and heads to the full House for a vote.
Originally, Strickland’s bill only proposed to allow employees to continue using earned sick leave for family care beyond July 1, when that provision in state law is set to expire.
The measure drew praise from Alex Camardelle, a senior policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, who touted the extended benefits provisions as well as the bill’s original purpose related to sick leave.
“All good things!” Camardelle wrote on Twitter.
But some lawmakers on the committee wondered if the $300-perweek threshold might still be too low for workers struggling through the pandemic to stay financially afloat. Concerns were also expressed over handing the labor commissioner more powers that otherwise would need to originate from the governor.
“I don’t know that we should enact such a broad scope of changes to grant these authorities to the department simply because we don’t think we could operate otherwise,” said Rep. Josh Bonner, R-Fayetteville.