Wis. panel moves to allow unemployment extension

The Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council, which guides legislators on unemployment benefits policy, voted 9-0 to soften the qualifying language. The move calls for taking the average of the past three years' unemployment rates rather than the past two, capturing the spike in unemployment when the recession began. The end result would be a higher average unemployment rate, enabling the state to collect about $90 million in federal dollars allocated through the 2009 stimulus bill.

The Republican-controlled Legislature still must approve the changes in bill form. Lawmakers aren't officially scheduled to return to Madison until September, but they could come back sooner to deal with redistricting matters and could address the changes then. The extended benefits would apply retroactively from their end date in April. Messages left at Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's offices weren't immediately returned.