How Long Can You Draw Unemployment In Tennessee

In the dwindling hours of this year'southward legislative session, Tennessee lawmakers reached consensus on a deal to overhaul the land'southward unemployment benefit system.

The pecker, which cleared the Senate 26-7 and the House 71-xix on Wednesday afternoon,  caps the maximum payout period at as low every bit 12 weeks — the lowest in the nation. It as well would heave the weekly benefits for all eligible Tennesseans by equally much every bit $50.

The House originally proposed a $25 increase, but ultimately matched the Senate proposal, which was approved by lawmakers Midweek. The bill will now head to Gov. Bill Lee's desk for his signature.

The bill would necktie the maximum payout period to the state's unemployment rate. The benefits would be extended as the rate rises and eventually would be capped at 20 weeks if the rate balloons beyond 9%.

The changes volition take effect in December 2023.

Tennessee has ane of the lowest amounts of weekly unemployment benefits amongst all states. Currently, each Tennessean can claim upwards to 26 weeks of benefits. But under the nib, Tennesseans mostly likely will see their benefits capped at 13 or 14 weeks based on historical unemployment rates.

Proponents tout the measure as an effort to restructure Tennessee's unemployment benefit system and furnish the country's unemployment trust fund, which has remained for years beneath the federally recommended level.

"It'south a math equation when y'all eddy downwards to information technology," said Rep. Kevin Vaughan, R-Collierville, who carried the legislation in the House. "How do we increase the dollars in the fund?"

Tiptop Republican lawmakers accept argued 26 weeks of unemployment benefits is too much. The extended benefits, they said, have discouraged people from rejoining the workforce, although the theory has been disputed by several studies.

Democratic lawmakers opposed the mensurate, arguing the bill would cut the overall benefits to Tennesseans in demand. The bill would save the state upward to $24 meg a yr in payouts.

"It'southward morally incorrect for us to reduce the benefits. These are working-class people. America was built on the back of working-class people," said Sen. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville. "I do know what it is like to need something and to be without. And when these individuals receive the unemployment (benefits), they are paying daycare fees; they are keeping food on their tables; they are paying rent and mortgages."

Lawmakers disagree over method to replenish unemployment trust fund

Supportive legislators contend the neb is a skillful fashion to infuse more money into the state's unemployment trust fund. The fund level has remained below the federally recommended level since 2014, co-ordinate to Department of Labor statistics.

Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said the state managed to maintain a "healthy remainder" in the fund this year because of federal aid during the pandemic.

"We cannot and should not rely on the federal government to sustain our trust fund," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, agreed the state needs enough money in the fund balance. Just he said cut the maximum payout period is not the right style to replenish that account.

"Our unemployment system isn't designed for recessions," he said Wednesday. "What we are doing in this beak is we are trying to avoid whatever possibility of any tax increase, and we are simply doing it on the backs of beneficiaries."

Partisan divide over touch of unemployment benefits

In back up of the legislation, Republican lawmakers cite hardship for businesses trying to hire workers to the extended benefits.

"You become around any canton in the state right at present, and you see 'help wanted' signs everywhere," said Sen. Mike Bong, R-Riceville. "They are looking for warm bodies. They are looking for people who tin pass the drug test and just show up to work."

Vaughan echoed Bell's argument.

"We've seen more supplemental federal dollars pouring into the organisation," he said Tuesday. "It'southward too becoming ... a workforce supply concatenation issue. We have people that are not being able to find laborers."

Vaughan added Tuesday lawmakers intend to agree an "unemployment workshop" in the summer to discuss further changes to the unemployment organization.

Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, referred to the number of task openings in Tennessee to argue the extended benefits have discouraged people from seeking work. As of Wednesday, more than 255,000 jobs are bachelor, state data shows.

"We are not Washington. We cannot print coin," he said. "Nosotros have to ensure the solvency of these programs, to ensure those that autumn on hard times are able to proceeds admission to unemployment (benefits)."

But Democratic lawmakers opposed the measure, arguing the overall reduction in unemployment benefits would fail to meet Tennesseans' soaring needs during a pandemic.

"We are cutting unemployment (benefits) in half later a million people in this country have relied on this system in the last twelvemonth," Yarbro said. "That'south not people who are lazy; that's one out of every three workers."

Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, said Tuesday the $25 raise in weekly benefits is non plenty to go on up with inflation. Currently, unemployed Tennesseans are eligible for up to $275 per week — a level set two decades agone, he said.

"I think well-nigh what I could spend $25 on," he said. "Not much of annihilation."

Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, called the $275 weekly benefits "embarrassing." That calculates to an hourly wage of roughly $six.88, he said, which is beneath the state's minimum wage of $7.25.

Clemmons called his Republican colleagues' position a "false narrative."

"For us to sit down hither and claim that people are sitting at habitation instead of working in the state of Tennessee because they are getting more money from unemployment is cool," he said. "There are real problems facing Tennessee families. And if you effort to shift the arraign to working families in Tennessee, that is a dangerous game you are playing."

Reach Yue Stella Yu at yyu@tennessean.com and on Twitter @bystellayu_tnsn.

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Source: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/05/tennessee-lawmakers-cap-unemployment-benefits-low-12-weeks-lowest-nationwide/4954423001/

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