$115M approved for state jobless program

Pennsylvania Senate lawmakers, one year after cutting a large chunk of funding to the state’s unemployment benefits system, voted Wednesday to partially restore it.

A bill that provides about $115 million for the next four years to the beleaguered program sailed through the Senate by a 43-5 vote Wednesday afternoon. The Senate declined to add any amendments from the version drawn up by the House, which voted 183-4 to pass the bill last week.

Gov. Tom Wolf will sign the bill before the end of the year, according to J.J. Abbott, a spokesman for the governor.

Mr. Abbott and others previously suggested Senate lawmakers would attempt to increase funding or make it permanent. But it appeared the dire need to get at least some money to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry — which oversees the approval of claims and distributes checks to thousands of unemployed residents — won out over the prospect of further partisan bickering in Harrisburg.

“This funding is essential,” Mr. Abbott wrote in an email. “While more and permanent funding would have helped improve service delivery and certainty, we appreciate the efforts of all involved to get this bill done.”

The bill’s passage comes about a year after Senate lawmakers declined to renew about $58 million in funding the Wolf administration was expecting for the 2017 calendar year. In response to the steep cuts, Mr. Wolf shuttered three state-run call centers and laid off about 500 workers.

Over the past year, service levels spiraled out of control and multiple hearings in Harrisburg failed to come up with answers.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, delays have skyrocketed over the year to 612,109 busy signals in October, compared with 99,430 busy signals in October 2016, before the layoffs. During the same time, average wait times to speak with a call center representative grew by 31 percent.

The numbers increased even