Audit of Unemployment Insurance

Audit of Unemployment Insurance

Earlier this year my colleagues in the Legislature requested that the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau perform an audit on the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Division of the Department of Workforce Development (DWD). This week, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee held a hearing to review the full report provided by Audit Bureau, and to hear from DWD leadership. A recording of that hearing is available on WisconsinEye.

In order to study how DWD processes initial UI claims, the Audit Bureau selected a random sample of 268 individuals who had filed initial claims between March 15, 2020 and April 11, 2020, but had not been paid the claims as of June 20, 2020.

Here is a recap of some of what we learned from the audit:

DWD took more than five weeks to pay 24.7% of initial claims for regular program benefits.
DWD was responsible for 11 of the 13 weeks that it took, on average, to resolve the initial claims of 250 of the 268 randomly selected individuals.
The most common issues that accounted for long wait times included instances when DWD had not resolved issues even though it had the information to do so, or because it had not requested information it needed from individuals and employers.

We are also aware that Gov. Evers only met with his Workforce Development Secretary once between March 1 and September 18. This lack of leadership and urgency continues to hurt Wisconsinites who are out of work through no fault of their own.

Assembly Republicans have proposed legislation to require the elimination of the backlog within 30 days, and increasing call center hours to 12 hours per day, 7 days per week.

If you are still in need of assistance with your UI or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims, please reach out to my office by email or phone at (608) 266-0610. We will need your full name (including middle initial), home address, phone number, the last four digits of your SSN, and a summary of why you are seeking assistance. Legislators are unable to expedite individual cases, but we can reach out to DWD and ask them to contact you directly.

Joint Committee on Finance

This week Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced his appointments to the Joint Committee on Finance for the 2021-2022 legislative session. I am humbled to share that the Speaker has chosen me, along with my colleague Rep. Tony Kurtz, to serve as the two new members from the Assembly Republican Caucus on the committee.

The pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty for Wisconsinites and their budgets. Similarly, the pandemic is causing economic uncertainty and presenting new challenges as we head into another legislative budget process. The primary responsibility of the Joint Committee on Finance is to review our state’s revenues and appropriations. This role in the budget-writing process will be of the utmost importance going into the next biennium. Next year, as we work on a new biennial budget, it will be crucial to look at our revenues and expenditures with a critical eye and make sure we’re putting forth a careful budget for Wisconsin.

I’m ready to get to work on this important task, and look forward for the opportunity to work with my colleagues in this capacity next session.

Lights on Edgewood

Lights on Edgewood is back this year! If you’ve been an E-Update subscriber for a while, you may remember that last year the Gray Family in South Milwaukee started putting on a holiday light show for the community at their home (1322 Edgewood Ave).

Fortunately for those of us that enjoy getting in the holiday spirit, Lights on Edgewood is back this year! Lights on Edgewood shows are at 7pm on Friday and Saturday nights through December 31.

For more information on Lights on Edgewood, visit facebook.com/LIGHTSONEDGEWOOD.