Committee advances bill to cut maximum unemployment weeks to 20 with carve‑out for seasonal "work‑attached" workers

At a meeting of the Joint Labor, Health & Social Services Committee, members voted to pass a bill draft that would reduce the maximum time an unemployed worker can receive benefits from 26 weeks to 20 weeks but exempt workers whose employment is "attached to regular work" such as seasonal highway or construction crews.

The committee passed the bill draft after adopting an amendment to preserve 26 weeks for so‑called work‑attached employees and another amendment directing Legal Services/Legislative Service Office to develop a statutory definition. Supporters said shortening benefit duration will speed reemployment and ease pressure on the state unemployment trust fund; opponents warned of unintended harm to workers who rely on seasonal earnings.

The director of the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) briefed the panel on program details, telling members that the most recent unemployment rate available for Wyoming was 3.2 percent (August), compared with 4.3 percent nationally, and that the average number of weeks claimed by Wyoming workers was 10.3 weeks. The director described how eligibility and benefit length…