Madison, WI — State Representative Alex Dallman has re-introduced his bill, AB 153, which would change the amount of benefits received under unemployment insurance. AB 153 has been co-sponsored by over 20 state representatives and senators in the Wisconsin Legislature.
Our current unemployment program provides for 26 weeks of unemployment no matter the current economic conditions and availability to employment. This bill would fix the problem of prolonged unemployed benefits that are keeping people out of the workforce. Benefit weeks would max out at 26, if the unemployment rate was over 9%. The amount of weeks would be reduced along a sliding scale down to 14 weeks if unemployment levels reach 3.5%.
“With the advisory referendum on requiring able-bodied, childless adults to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits passing in the most recent spring election, there is no better time to reform Wisconsin’s unemployment program and get more people back into the workforce,” said Representative Dallman.
States such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee that have implemented reforms such as this bill, have yielded more financially stable unemployment funds, 71% lower benefit costs, 59% lower unemployment insurance taxes, and enrollees moving off of the unemployment benefits and back into the workforce twice as fast.
“We need to move our focus of public benefits from “unemployment insurance” to “re-employment insurance”. In the economic climate we have right now, there is no reason for a person to need half of a year to procure a high-paying, quality job,” said Representative Dallman.