Unemployment insurance subcommittee orders interim study after department models show big cost and trust-fund impacts

Members of a legislative unemployment insurance subcommittee voted to pursue an interim study after Department of Employment Security staff presented scenario models showing that several proposed changes to weekly benefit amounts and benefit-duration rules could materially increase annual benefit payouts and prompt trust-fund balance reductions.

Commissioner Richard Levers of the Department of Employment Security told the subcommittee he had provided three court decisions (Wheeler, Royer and Pregent) that reinforce a constitutional property interest in unemployment benefits and the department’s obligation to provide due process before reducing an individual's monetary eligibility. "You need to give them due process — provide them an opportunity to be heard and evaluate the information being used to deny eligibility," Levers said, urging caution around any policy that would change a claimant’s monetary determination mid‑benefit year.

Levers walked lawmakers through a set of modelled scenarios intended to isolate the fiscal effect of specific proposals. Key results he summarized included: adding seven higher…