California lawmakers want to make the state’s unemployment system better. Here’s how
Pressured by angry constituents and frustrated by a slow-moving bureaucracy, California lawmakers Thursday proposed sweeping legislation to make it easier for consumers to get paid by — and deal with — the state’s embattled unemployment system.
Their proposals would provide a consumer advocate to help people navigate what claimants often find to be a confusing and unresponsive system.
There would be direct deposit of benefits, and help for the millions of Californians who speak a language other than English.
The bills seek new efforts to prevent the sort of massive fraud that’s estimated to have illegally siphoned as much as $30 billion in claims.
The legislation is the result of 11 months of often bitter constituent frustration as Californians try to get unemployment benefits. EDD has been overwhelmed by the unprecedented COVID-driven surge in claims, and a state audit found it was woefully unprepared for the deluge.
Lawmakers Thursday noted that the auditor and others warned years ago that EDD wasn’t ready for another recession.
“Many of the issues EDD is facing today have been known since the Great Recession,” said Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco. “Almost nothing was done to fix the problems or plan for another economic downturn.”
EDD officials have said in recent weeks they’re becoming more efficient. Gov. Gavin Newsom created a strike force last year to help the agency, and EDD officials report good progress. It’s cleared the huge backlog of claims from the fall, and Rita Saenz, named EDD director six weeks ago, vowed at a legislative hearing Wednesday that the 2020 chaos “will never happen again.”
California Assembly members and senators, though, are not satisfied. During three separate hearings over the last week, they told fresh stories of constituents unable to get payments they were due.
“Yesterday’s hearings confirmed our worst fears and validated the frustrations of millions of Californians,” said Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which held Wednesday’s hearing.
The new legislative package aims at making dramatic improvements.
To make receiving payments easier, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, would have people get their unemployment benefits via direct deposit. California is one of three states in the country not to currently offer a direct deposit option.
Currently, the EDD contracts with Bank of America to provide benefits through debit cards.
But EDD has frozen many of those cards recently as it looks into possible fraud, and people with legitimate claims sometimes have had to wait.
Another aid for constituents would be an Office of the Claimant Advocate within the EDD.
The legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, would advocate for consumers as they sought unemployment disability insurance and paid family leave benefits from the EDD.
EDD administers several unemployment programs, including federal programs that are currently due to end this spring. Assemblyman Mimguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, would provide unemployment insurance to people who may have exhausted their benefits if Washington does not act.
Other proposals:
▪ Take steps to assure that all Californians seeking EDD’s services, regardless of language, have proper support. Chiu called the proposal “a matter of civil rights.”
▪ Create an Unemployment Insurance Oversight Advisory Board within the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency to regularly review the EDD’s unemployment insurance operations. The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Laguna Beach, would make recommendations to the governor and legislature as well as EDD.
▪ Assure people who have accidentally answered a certification question incorrectly and received an overpayment are not locked out of their employment benefits. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Chad Mayes, Ind.-Yucca Valley, would require the EDD to send “a clear notice of the incorrect statement and allow the individual to cure the misstatement.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 10:47 AM.
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