Labor commissioner outlines UI modernization, budget requests and solvency shortfall
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Summary
Labor Commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes presented a $3.26 million amended FY26 request to support a strategic modernization, including one-time salary supplements, rent for career centers and laptop replacements, and warned that the state's unemployment insurance trust fund balance was $1.98 billion as of December 2025, below the DOL solvency threshold.
Labor Commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes told the subcommittee the Georgia Department of Labor is pursuing a multi-pronged modernization to replace an unemployment insurance system dating from the 1980s, increase fraud detection, and speed services to claimants.
Holmes said the governor’s amended FY26 recommendations include $3,260,000 in targeted funding: a combined $1,563,078 (various lines) to provide a one-time $2,000 salary supplement for full‑time regular employees, $611,691 to cover rent at Athens and Thomasville career centers while the State Properties Commission seeks new partners, and $1,090,000 to replace aging laptops through the Georgia Technology Authority.
Addressing solvency, Holmes said, "As of December 2025, Georgia's unemployment insurance trust fund balance stands at $1,980,000,000 which is 1 and a half billion dollars below the U.S. Department of Labor's calculated solvency threshold of 3,480,000,000." She said the department will continue working with the governor’s office and Georgia’s congressional delegation on long-term measures to improve trust fund stability.
In committee questions, Holmes stressed the department is data-driven and will evaluate its facility footprint as it expands self-service UI tools and online resources to preserve access for Georgians who rely on in-person career center services.
No formal appropriation votes were held; the presentation will inform budget deliberations in the ongoing session.
