Support Equal Unemployment Insurance Access
Support Equal Unemployment Insurance Access for Virginia Workers Now – Tell the Virginia Senate to Pass HB 1319
- Currently, a Virginia worker’s maximum duration of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits ranges from 12 to 26 weeks, based on an earnings formula that has nothing to do with how long it takes to find suitable work.
- Two neighbors may lose similar jobs at the same time, and one will be covered for 26 weeks and the other for only 12 weeks, even though both are fulfilling work search requirements.
- Workers may remain unemployed and otherwise eligible, but they are no longer able to access UI financial and reemployment benefits.
HB 1319 would provide consistency and connection to the labor market
- HB 1319 would allow all eligible workers to claim up to 26 weeks of UI benefits. (Their weekly benefit amount would continue to be based on past earnings history.)
- As is currently the case, workers will only be able to claim weeks when they actively meet eligibility criteria such as looking for work.
- Covering all otherwise eligible workers for up to 26 weeks benefits not only workers, but the state’s economy since workers will be better able to maintain household spending while they look for their next good job.
- Ten other states, including MD, WV, and DC, already have this uniform 26 weeks of eligibility.
- HB 1319 is projected to increase average employer taxes per employee by just $23.15 a year, keeping state UI tax costs low for the Commonwealth’s employers. Virginia employers have some of the lowest tax costs in the nation (in the bottom 20% of states since 2014) and will continue to have low rates even with these changes.
Using the form below, please email members of Senate Finance, and urge them to pass HB 1319 – to make uniform access to 26 weeks a reality for unemployed Virginia workers.
Just fill out your information to send an email to members of the Senate Finance Committee (personal information is never shared with anyone beyond the recipients).
