June 1, 2011

 

 

 

Senator Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) is asking the state’s Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council to reject a proposed waiting period that would delay unemployment benefits for people who lose their jobs.

 

Gov. Scott Walker has proposed establishing a one-week waiting period as part of legislation to make Wisconsin eligible for federal funding for extended unemployment benefits.

 

The waiting period requirement was also added to the state budget bill as part of a motion by six Assembly Republicans last week.  The Joint Finance Committee approved the motion on a vote of 11-5.  Cullen said he would introduce an amendment to eliminate the waiting period from the budget bill.

 

The Legislature eliminated a one-week waiting period in 1976, during Cullen’s first term in the Senate.

 

“I voted to abolish the waiting period in 1976 for a very good reason:  People who lose their jobs have to put food on the table during their first week of unemployment just as much as during subsequent weeks,” he said in a letter to Daniel LaRoque, chair of the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council.

 

Changes to unemployment law traditionally are approved by the Council before going to the Legislature.  The Council comprises four representatives of employers, one small business representative, five representatives of employees, and the non-voting chair.

 

“The tradition in Wisconsin has been that representatives of employers and employees work together to establish our laws relating to unemployment benefits, not to have legislators changing the law willy-nilly,” Cullen said.

 

The Department of Workforce Development estimated that a one-week waiting period would result in an average annual reduction in charges to employers of $45.2 million.

 

“This proposal will not save individual income taxpayers a dime,” Cullen said.  “It is not a savings of general purpose revenue; it is $45.2 million we are taking out of the hands of jobless people.”

 

The Council is scheduled to meet June 23.