ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
Purpose
Eliminates the caps on maximum weekly unemployment
benefits and on the maximum total benefit per year. Increases the amount from $30 to $75 a benefit recipient may earn
per week without a corresponding reduction in weekly benefits.
Background
Unemployment insurance is offered as an economic safety net program to individuals who find themselves, through no fault of their own, out of work for a period of time. In such cases, individuals must meet certain criteria, like availability to work, able to work and registered to work. If qualified to receive benefits, individuals are then given a proportion of their wages from a trust fund funded by employers in the state. Concerns have been expressed that Arizona lags behind other states in the amount of benefits that are paid out to unemployed individuals.
Under current law, individuals seeking unemployment benefits may receive a maximum benefit of $205 a week. Also, individuals are eligible to receive 26 times their weekly benefit amount, but the total amount may not exceed one-third of their base period earnings. S.B. 1091 removes the $205 maximum weekly benefit amount for any eligible recipient. The bill also eliminates the requirement that recipients receive no more than one-third of their base pay earnings in a single year. In each case the benefit cap is removed so that under this bill no maximum amounts are specified. The bill also raises the amount, from $30 to $75, that an individual may earn per week without receiving a corresponding reduction in benefits.
While the elimination of the two benefit caps and
the increase of wages earned threshold may impact the unemployment trust fund
and employer tax rates, the extent of this impact is unknown at this time. The
Department of Economic Security estimates that there will be no impact to the
state general fund.
Provisions
1. Eliminates the $205 maximum weekly benefit amount for unemployment benefits.
2. Removes the requirement that recipients receive no more than one-third of their base pay earnings in a single year.
3. Increases the amount, from $30 to $75, a benefit recipient may earn per week without experiencing a corresponding reduction in weekly benefits.
4. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 23, 2001