Legislators urge paying down federal UI debt to enable higher weekly benefits

Harry Bronson, chair of the Assembly Labor Committee, and other legislators urged using significant state resources to pay down the state’s federal unemployment insurance (UI) debt so benefits can increase and small businesses are not further burdened.

Bronson told the subcommittee the state still owes about $6,500,000,000 to the federal government for UI borrowing and that the current maximum weekly benefit—$504—falls short of what a full‑time worker at minimum wage would receive. "Simply is not acceptable," he said. He advocated paying down the federal debt to allow benefit increases consistent with the statute, which he said would set a maximum of $860 per week.

Bronson and other speakers argued paying down the debt would also preserve access to more favorable federal loans in the event of another economic downturn and relieve private employers from higher costs. He proposed using about $7,000,000,000 to retire federal UI debt while retaining a large state reserve; he cited a $34,000,000,000 reserve total and said paying down $7 billion would still leave roughly $27 billion in reserves.

Senator Steven Rhodes and Assembly members thanked the Assembly for proposing to repay the trust fund and framed that move as supportive of small businesses and job creation. No formal vote or binding decision was taken at the subcommittee meeting; members asked conferees and budget negotiators to consider the UI debt repayment in final negotiations.

Speakers did not present a finalized budget vehicle at the meeting; the discussion was a request to conferees to adopt the repayment and benefit‑increase approach during final budget negotiations.