North Carolina Restores Extended Benefits

First topic message reminder :

I did a search and I couldn't find this posted anywhere so I made a new thread.

I went to print out some more work search forms today and I saw a notice on the Unemployment commission website saying that due to the decline in the unemployment rate that North Carolina no longer qualifies for extended benefits. The last week payable will be 4/16.

The unemployment rate went down from 9.8% to 9.7%. It has never been below 9.5% which I thought was the cut off rate. Something seems wrong here.

Does anyone else have any more information?

NC Democrats seek to pressure GOP on unemployment

Lendme, I truly admire your hard work for North Carolina, yes I do.

You are possibly correct however, I do not believe that they thought unemployment would be lower after all we have some confusion depending who is saying what, could be 17 to 30 million people (including UC, EUC, EB, HUP and the exhaustees) out of work. I believe the number to be around 21 million.

These law go back many, many years. I read the laws somewhere and bookmarked it, I will try and find them. But they did not tell us about the 110% deal until the end of, I believe, February or early March, at which time they gave the states the option of choice, which never should have been given because it was a Democratic Senate & House Law and now we have a Republicans House and State Law usually trumps Federal Laws. We have 29 Republican governors, which puts us in a bad place. They knew unemployment would not be going down, and that it did is just amazing. In PA in just a few month 70,000 jobs were added mostly in mining which hasn't been done in years. Reopen those mines, yep that will help some. I can't believe that. Gallop put unemployment at over 10% at the point the government had it at 8.9%. The government calls 60,000 households to determine the rate and the questions are confusing and time consuming. If I'd have had a call from the government, I probably would have hung up on them, many probably do and to get the job done, the callers probably put anything they want into their reports, the questions are tricky and meant to trick. The unemployment rate should be everyone who during a particular period was receiving some form of unemployment plus the exhaustees, period. But they factored in many other things this year to artificially deflate unemployment. The president even admitted he thought it would go up, but hey they are not going up, and they should be counting the exhaustees who need help desperately and others falling off the programs (they should use the U6) because this was and is a strange recession caused by Wall Street's money grubbers. Because of the absence of concern for the exhaustees, I can only believe these are the most crooked, cruel, lower than a snakes belly liars and idiots because they don't give a dam, but they are stupid to think this will not come back to haunt them. Our time is going to come & soon. They pulled the wool over our eyes, got the tax cut for the rich and because the UC programs will not cost as much as originally planned, they got the "pay go" to keep the top 5% richest people from a huge tax increase, because they knew the programss would end early. That is what I think, it is probably somewhere in the middle, but these guys are crooks and liars. Dazed

lendme, I have to second that I really appreciate and admire what you have done. When this first happened and I began writing my representatives and the news, I did not know of this forum, or that a bill was being introduced. Then you inspired me and gave me more info. So thank you. I do hope they get it done this week.

Has any progress been made in the effort to stop EB from being shut off?

Just want to update NC residents - the media and DOL have been silent reporting the various states that will be cutting off EB.

It is still in the commerce commitee.

The democrats that write me back are all on board.

The republicans pretend they don't know what I am talking about.

I accidentally typed HR 676 when I should have typed HB 676 and Republican Linda Johnson wrote me back and told me that HR 676 was a bill in federal congress. I wrote her back with a link to the bill and never heard from her again.



David Guice, also republican, wrote me a long email with his findings from NCESC that explained why EB was cutting off. He went on to explain that the states have the descretion to implement a 3 year look back because the way it is set up now they are comparing current unemployment levels to pre-recession levels. He then said "There is currently a bill introduced on 4/7 that addresses your concern". He didn't say whether he would vote for it or not.

It is kind of infuriating.
If NC wants Eb we need to keep working on this.
We need to stay on the house and start working on the senate when the bill gets to finance. It will probably move quickly to the senate if it is approved by the house.

Here are the links to your representatives:

House of representatives:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=House

Senate:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate

Here is an article about it. I can't believe that N.C. Employment Security Commission found out about this a little over a week ago!

Lawmakers push extend unemployment benefits

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/04/08/article/lawmakers_push_extend_unemployment_benefits

Good news?


Here is an email I received from republican representative Edgar Starnes. He seems to not understand how the program works but it sounds like he will vote for it. I also think it's funny that he addressed me as "dear John" as if he was breaking up with me. Anyway here it is:


Dear John,

We are going to take a look at extended benefits for unemployment.  Extending these benefits depends on us getting money from the federal government.  If they send us money down from Washington, we can do this.  Otherwise, North Carolina’s unemployment fund has been depleted and there is no more money to pay the additional benefit.

Edgar Starnes

i would say that is good news

Chubz wrote:i would say that is good news

Me too, it has been confirmed that it is being backed by the federal government(whether or not NC will have to pay it back later I do not know). Their are some passionate people on this forum, it is good to see these kinds of open forums where people talk about the things that matter. Needless to say, with the economy in the downward spiral it is in, we should NOT be here wondering what is happening to unemployment checks. Many of us have worked for years and years, paying into the federal government and the state government, large chunks of money. We essentially payed for the unfortunate position of being potentially unemployed(laid off, etc). Now, we are worried that we will not be able to pay our bills or eat. It is eye-opening, and it is hard to have faith in our government's interest in its citizens well-being.

I have done my duty by petitioning all levels of state and federal government with emails and phone calls to rectify this injustice(40,000 people-not including the children of the unemployed who will suffer by default). It is a wonder this "trigger system" was not made available to the public in any attainable way until a few weeks ago--even the ESC was surprised(from what I can tell from talking to their representatives).

Good luck everyone, we have this week--stay tuned

Welcome to the forum demianhesse. Demian by Hermann Hesse is one of my favorite books.

Anyway, I think this bill will pass state if they understand it. However, a lot of them seem to not get it though.

As far as not knowing about the trigger off, I agree with you. It is such a complicated process I am not surprised no one knew about it.

Latest news I could find.

RALEIGH -- Republican leaders are linking extended jobless benefits for thousands of North Carolina residents to their budget-cutting goal, saying help for 37,000 unemployed workers depends on a deal that erases chances for a state government shutdown.

House Speaker Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg County and Senate leader Phil Berger of Rockingham County said Wednesday they will change a formula that threatens extended unemployment benefits this week. Otherwise, about 37,000 jobless workers will lose the federal funding Saturday.

The GOP legislative leaders said their legislation adds language that erases the chances that budget talks with Gov. Beverly Perdue will grind to a halt without a new spending plan by July 1.

Berger and Tills said their proposal would keep state government operating at 13 percent less than the level Perdue recommended.

Google search results: http://www.google.com/#q=nc+extended+benefits&hl=en&tbm=nws&source=lnt&tbs=sbd:1&sa=X&ei=RdalTdvCNeXo0gG7vtXaCA&ved=0CBgQpwUoAQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=280153586bef9763

http://www.wxii12.com/money/27528926/detail.html


http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/05a8a4c0016e44b990cef94fded19989/NC-Unemployment-Benefits/

So basically the republicans are holding EB hostage for their budget cuts. Ok fine.

They are trying to amend EB to this, HB383, http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=h383&submitButton=Go for some reason. Why not just pass HB676, a stand alone three year look back?

I just got an email from Rep Paul Stam.

They are voting on this tomorrow.

The reason they won't vote on this alone is because they want to attach it to the budget bill so that Democratic Governor Bev Perdue has no choice but to sign their budget bill. She had threatened to veto it but if now if she does she looks like she is denying unemployment to the peopel of NC.

The republicans are trying to make it look like they care about the working class when they don't really give a d@mn. That was in evidence when every one of them told me last week they they didn't think they could restore benefits. Now they are one the side of the unemployed? Yeah right.

This has to go through so I guess I am in favor of it.

In his email to me, Stam said that NCESC knew this could happen but didn't tell anyone until last week when they posted it on their website. He also said that the governor didn't tell the legislature about it when she found out on the 1st. This is obvious political showmanship and it makes me angry but at least it looks like it will pass.

Tomorrow we should be able to breathe easier.

I truly hope so Lendme, best of luck!

Here is a copy of the press release Stam sent me.


                                                                  
 
GOP leaders: extend benefits, avoid shutdown
 
Raleigh, N.C. – After her administration put jobless benefits for 37,000 unemployed North Carolinians at risk, Gov. Beverly Perdue can extend those benefits and ensure she doesn’t shut down state government by supporting a legislative proposal.
 
The state’s Employment Security Commission waited until the eleventh hour to notify House and Senate leadership of an urgent problem: thousands won’t get an unemployment check unless legislators change a formula by April 16 to keep funding benefits.
 
House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger are proposing a simple solution to get those families their checks and keep the governor from shutting down North Carolina’s government if she vetoes the state budget.
 
The proposal includes a Continuing Resolution that keeps North Carolina’s government running if a budget is not signed by June 30 – the end of the current fiscal year.
 
The Perdue administration knew about the problem April 1, a full week before the General Assembly was notified.  A letter (see attached) from ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes to House and Senate leaders arrived at the General Assembly at close of business Friday.  And before alerting legislative leaders, the ESC notified those on unemployment rolls that their benefits would expire if the General Assembly didn’t act quickly.
 
“This is another prime example of government incompetence,” said Berger (R-Rockingham).  “If the governor wants to extend unemployment benefits, she’ll sign this bill.  If she wants to shut down the government, she won’t.  We’ve seen the uncertainty last-second budget negotiations bring to public employees, small businesses, and those who rely on government services.  We won’t allow that to happen here.  We’re getting it off the table.”
 
Legislators learned about the problem only five business days before the deadline to extend funding.
 
“We learned at the very last minute that we have to clean up yet another mess,” said Tillis (R-Mecklenburg). “With one signature, the governor can prove she’s serious about bipartisanship, about averting a catastrophic government shutdown, about streamlining government, and about extending unemployment benefits to those in need.”

excellent!

Ok, this was filed in the state senate yesterday. It has democrat and republican primary sponsors. So does it have to start all over again in committee?

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=S584

H676/S584 UI/Implement EB Three-Year Look Back
04/13/2011 Senate Filed
04/14/2011 Senate Passed 1st Reading
04/14/2011 Senate Ref To Com On Finance

Nothing new yet on S343 Extend UI Benefits/Continuing Resolution.

03/16/2011 House Filed
03/17/2011 House Passed 1st Reading
03/17/2011 House Ref To Com On Commerce and Job Development
03/17/2011 House Withdrawn From Com
03/17/2011 House Re-ref Com On Public Utilities
03/30/2011 House Reptd Fav Com Substitute
Relevant document(s): PCS30208
03/30/2011 House Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
03/30/2011 House Placed On Cal For 3/31/2011
03/31/2011 House Passed 2nd Reading
03/31/2011 House Placed On Cal For 4/5/2011
04/05/2011 House Passed 3rd Reading
04/06/2011 Senate Rec From House
04/06/2011 Senate Passed 1st Reading
04/06/2011 Senate Ref To Com On Finance
04/12/2011 Senate Withdrawn From Com
04/12/2011 Senate Re-ref Com On Appropriations/Base Budget
04/13/2011 Senate Reptd Fav Com Substitute
04/13/2011 Senate Com Substitute Adopted
Relevant document(s): PCS11180
04/13/2011 Senate Placed On Cal For 4/13/2011
04/13/2011 Senate Amend Failed 1
Relevant document(s): A1
04/13/2011 Senate Amend Failed 2
Relevant document(s): A2
04/13/2011 Senate Passed 2nd Reading

Gov. Perdue intends to veto HB 383 later today. Pork barrel politics crap. But hey at least they get paid on time. I suppose maybe they will vote on hb676 now, it will fail just because it makes too much sense to pass a stand alone extension resolution.

What is 383? That bill that basically says that if they can't reach an agreement they go with the republican plan? Yeah that's how democracy works.


This has to pass and soon. I have no idea what to tell my roommate about rent next month.

HB676-S584 has gone to finance. It is only for 3 year look back. http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=S584 HB383-S343 was the one the budget cuts and 3 year look back, it was vetoed http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=h383&submitButton=Go
Maybe the standalone bill will go through.
Communications Director Chrissy Pearson issued the following statement:

Gov. Perdue intends to veto HB 383 later today. The General Assembly has once again shown they are willing to play games with people's lives in holding hostage some 37,000 unemployed North Carolinians. But to sign the bill and suffer the extreme cuts proposed by Republicans would risk the future of this state and the lives of 9.5 million citizens.

A veto message and statement from the governor will be out later today.

So much for another statement later today.

This just sucks, it is time for the American's to form the American Party and take all of these Buttwipes down. If I get any more pissed I think my head might blow-up which would be a relief.

Maybe she hasn't vetoed it yet. I totally understand why she would. This bill would require her to use the republican budget if they cannot come to an agreement on a different budget. This sounds all fine and good but all the republicans have to do is never agree to anything and they get what they want.


Their budget will cut 21,000 teacher jobs in K-12 education. It will cut 8,000 faculty positions in the university system which would create 240,000 less spaces for students next year. It closes 4 prisons and cuts almost 2000 jobs from that department which would all be prison guards probably. The republicans/tea party is out of control.