May 15, 2021 4 min read

As the state prepares to roll out an updated unemployment system, GOP lawmakers are pushing to strip away benefits and add work-search requirements.

It’s part of a nationwide push – mostly in Republican-controlled states – to eliminate the additional unemployment benefits offered by the federal government amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Rep. Jim Cox, R-Lancaster, has led the push for unemployed people to look for work. Cox has proposed cutting off the extra $300 per week in federal funds first offered last year.

“Circumstances have changed dramatically since April 2020,” Cox said late last month, when he first proposed one of the bills. “It is time for Pennsylvania’s unemployment system to start sending a message that these benefits are temporary – and that claimants need to start looking for a job.”

One bill would reinstate rules that require those collecting unemployment payments to look for work and attend career-search events. The requirements have been suspended since last year, but a growing chorus of conservatives is calling for a return to the prior rules.

The Cox proposal’s cosponsors include Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, R-Clinton; Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria; Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Hollidaysburg; Rep. Bud Cook, R-Washington; Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Lycoming; Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga; Rep. Rich Irvin, R-Huntingdon; and Rep. Michael Puskaric, R-Allegheny; among others.

The work-search bill passed a House committee last week in a party-line vote. Its success appears to have spurred more legislation rolling back unemployment aid.

On Tuesday, Cox circulated a memo seeking support for another proposal: One that would end Pennsylvania’s use of federal funds to help unemployed workers. If the bill passes, the state would stop taking the extra $300 per week per worker, as well as unemployment assistance for those – like artists and freelancers – traditionally left out of the system.

The proposal would include one-time payments as an incentive for those who return to the workforce.

Cox was blunt in his message Tuesday.

“Shifting policy incentives away from unemployment and toward work is a step we can take right now to start sending the message: Go find a job!”

While unemployment claims have generally declined since the height of the pandemic, business owners – particularly those in low-wage industries – have openly complained of difficulty finding workers at their prior rates. Some potential workers, buoyed by federal support and high demand for their labor, have the freedom to turn down jobs they might once have been pressured to take.

Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have said as much, blaming higher pay expectations for a slow return to work. Chamber officials said in a post online last week: “The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market.”

The push already has had success in some states. Several GOP-led states, mostly in the South, are set to stop taking federal payments ahead of schedule.

The chances for similar legislation in Pennsylvania remain unclear. Last week, a representative of Gov. Tom Wolf noted that the state has never faced such a situation.

“Work search has never been suspended before, so there is no precedent for reinstating it,” spokeswoman Lyndsay Kensinger told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. “We are working with our partners and stakeholders to determine a best date to restart work search.”

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is about to roll out a new unemployment system that officials say will make filing and checking claims easier, although service pauses are planned for the transition in early June.

Casey bill would shift emergency calls

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is proposing legislation that would divert some emergency calls away from police and toward other responders.

Casey said his two bills would reduce the risk people with mental health concerns face during emergencies. One would divert some calls – those not involving crime, fires or medical emergencies – toward 211 systems, rather than the 911 system that dispatches police. Those systems could direct trained, non-police responders to the scene.

A second bill would provide grants to train police to better interact with people with disabilities, he said.

“The families of Walter Wallace Jr., Ricardo Munoz and Osaze Osagie needed mental health crisis support and they didn’t get it,” Casey said in a news release, naming three Pennsylvanians killed by police in recent years. “We must take action to ensure that someone’s ethnicity or mental ability does not preclude them from receiving protection and fair treatment.”

Ryan Brown covers statewide politics for Ogden Newspapers. He can be reached at rbrown@altoonamirror.com.