Kaine ‘inclined’ to change law on stimulus-funded jobless benefits
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
March 27, 2009
Gov. Tim Kaine said Thursday he was “inclined” to support changing Virginia law to take full advantage of unemployment benefits funded through the stimulus package.
The state will receive $125 million in federal jobless aid only if it loosens two of four criteria determining who can receive the benefits. To do so, Kaine must quickly tag the proposal to existing legislation and persuade the General Assembly to accept the changes next month.
Some Republicans lawmakers and business groups oppose the rules change, which they argue would set Virginia employers up for a greater financial burden once the federal money runs out.
The debate is playing out around the country as states mull whether to accede to the policy demands of the $787 billion stimulus plan or risk losing millions of dollars to prop up an increasing number of laid-off workers. Several Southern states have said no to the stimulus’ unemployment benefits.
Kaine told Richmond’s WRVA radio station that expanding unemployment benefits to part-time workers and increasing the length of benefits for those in job training programs were the two most salient options.
“People are hard hit right now, people have a lot of needs,” he said. “There are a lot of folks who are working two or three part-time jobs because they can’t find a full- time job.”
Virginia, ranked by Forbes.com as the most business-friendly state in the nation, requires one of the lowest pay-ins by employers to the unemployment trust fund. That fund is already on track to be insolvent by the end of the year, despite a planned increase in the unemployment tax, said Del. Sam Nixon, R-Richmond.
The unemployment proposal, he said, “is counterproductive to the notion of providing and keeping jobs by increasing the cost of doing business in Virginia.”
“You don’t want to turn unemployment insurance into an entitlement program,” he said.
Kaine has until Monday to amend, veto and sign bills passed during the 2009 legislative session, which ended last month.
Legislators will briefly reconvene April 8 to consider the governor’s actions.
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said he could tag the revisions to unemployment law onto a bill related to military spouses or the budget bill.
Virginia posted a January unemployment rate of 6.4 percent.
