Evers signs bill for jobless system update
1970s programming has long needed an overhaul
MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday bound himself and legislators by law to an upgrade of the state’s unemployment system that has failed to deliver an income to tens of thousands of Wisconsinites who lost work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Three governors and hundreds of lawmakers have known for decades the 1970s-era system was unable to keep up when job losses spike — a weakness that turned into a catastrophe during the pandemic when an unprecedented number of people sought benefits all at once.
The overhaul will likely cost nearly $100 million to pull off, but the legislation Evers signed Thursday includes no funding. Instead, it gives the state Department of Workforce Development the authority to find a firm to do the work.
“The system isn’t new, and the problems aren’t, either,” Evers said in a taped message. “It’s unfortunate that the Legislature chose to cut the funding we’d asked for to commit to upgrading our system from start to finish — because I want to be clear, this bill won’t be enough to solve the problem.”
Work on the computer upgrade has been put off for years. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle started it but abandoned it in 2007 after spending $23 million because of delays and cost overruns. His successor, Republican Gov. Scott Walker did not revive the project during his eight years in office despite audits showing its significant deficiencies.
But the problems under the Evers administration appeared as early as April and it wasn’t until September that significant headway was made in clearing a backlog, when Evers fired former DWD Secretary Caleb Frostman and hired
“The system isn’t new, and the problems aren’t, either. It’s unfortunate that the Legislature chose to cut the funding we’d asked for to commit to upgrading our system from start to finish — because I want to be clear, this bill won’t be enough to solve the problem.”
Gov. Tony Evers
Amy Pechacek, who immediately partnered with Google to clear much of the claims.
Republicans in the Legislature argued Evers should have done more last year to make sure people got their benefits, such as by assigning more staff to the problem.
Evers said he did what he could but in September fired Frostman for not moving faster and after a state audit showed fewer than 1% of calls for unemployment help were answered.
Evers last month called a special session to take up a plan that would have put an initial $5 million toward the problem. Republicans rebuffed him but last week said they would pass a modified version of his bill without funding.
Their version of the legislation also includes a top priority for Republicans — giving protections to businesses, local governments and school districts from coronavirus-related litigation.
In addition, the bill would briefly suspend — until March 13 — a requirement that the unemployed wait a week before qualifying for unemployment.
Republicans a decade ago passed a law requiring the waiting period to shore up the state’s unemployment fund, but they suspended it last year because of the pandemic. Under that law, the waiting period went back into effect this month.
Under the new law, those who lost their jobs in recent weeks will be able to retroactively claim benefits for the first week they were out of work.