 Without a legislative plan, which
Quinn signed shortly after it
passed out of the Legislature on Thursday, emergency unemployment
benefits would have stopped in May for 32,000 people and in June for
another 12,000 people, according to Greg Rivara, spokesman for the
state's Department of Employment Security.Because of the
recession, the federal government allowed states to change how they
determine who is eligible for extended unemployment benefits. The
change in eligibility makes benefits available to people for a
longer period.
"Clearly, the state is moving in the right direction,
economically speaking. What also is clear is that this recovery has
not touched every doorstep. We're talking about a group of people
whose doorstep the recovery has not touched," Rivara said.
The plan also diverts money from a specific fee businesses pay
the state in regard to unemployment insurance to cover an $80
million interest payment on a $2.9 billion loan from the federal
government.
Every state borrowed money from the federal government to pay
growing unemployment costs during the recession, according to the
Department of Labor. Illinois is one of 32 states that have yet to
pay back the loans.
Illinois needs to pay by Sept. 30, or the federal credits that
businesses receive will be rolled back and used to make the payment.
"The business community very much has a vested interest in coming
up with a short-term solution," said Kim Clarke Maisch, Illinois
director at the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
The state made a similar payment earlier this year.
The reason for the relative speed that this plan went from
legislation to law? Employers pay unemployment insurance taxes only
on the first $12,470 an employee earns, making the checks from
businesses early in the year much larger than any others.
[to top of second column] |
State Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, said the legislation
had to be signed into law Thursday to use money from those checks
for the $80 million interest payment.
He and others said what happened Thursday was just the first step
in a two-step process.
"The bigger issue, and probably the more difficult issue to
negotiate, is going to be taking a look at the deficit within that
fund itself, where we're looking at a $2 billion problem," Mautino
said.
Negotiations are taking place behind closed doors between the
state, businesses and unions to figure out what combination of
unemployment benefit cuts, larger contributions from businesses and
bonding might be used to pay back Washington, D.C.
It'd be nice if the state didn't have these issues to deal with,
but they are problems that are a symptom of a sick economy healing,
Rivara said.
"Had we not had falling unemployment rates for the past 13
months, we wouldn't be faced with these decisions," he said.
In fact, local unemployment numbers released Thursday show that
the unemployment rate dropped in every Illinois county for the third
month in a row. That is the longest stretch all counties' rates have
dropped since statistics started being collected in 1976, according
to Rivara.
(See related article from
the Illinois Department of Employment Security.)
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON] |
