Resolution Opposing Federal Mandates on Unemployment Insurance Exposed

The Resolution Opposing Federal Mandates on Unemployment Insurance was approved by ALEC's Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force on July 16, 2009, and approved by the ALEC Board of Directors on August 27, 2009. ALEC has attempted to distance itself from this piece of legislation after the launch of ALECexposed.org in 2011, but it has done nothing to get it repealed in the states where it previously pushed for it to be made into law.

ALEC Bill Text

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," and;

WHEREAS, the authority over determinations of unemployment compensation eligibility and payment under state unemployment insurance programs belongs to the states, and;

WHEREAS, the federal government, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), mandates that states liberalize their unemployment insurance laws by expanding eligibility in order to receive temporary federal funding, and;

WHEREAS, it is not the role of the Federal Government to entice or compel states to change their unemployment insurance laws, and;

WHEREAS, the required changes are a typical costly federal mandate that entices states to spend more money for the promise of short-term federal funding, and;

WHEREAS, the required federal changes would prohibit the denial of unemployment compensation to individuals who limit their availability to part-time work, extend the length of benefits to individuals who participate in job training programs, and provide eligibility to individuals who quit their job for compelling family reasons as defined in federal law, and;

WHEREAS, these required expansions would move state unemployment insurance away from its original goal of providing temporary partial wage replacement assistance to workers who lose their job through no fault of their own, and move it toward a federally controlled public assistance social welfare program, and;

WHEREAS, the ARRA required changes to state laws will increase spending, result in increased taxes and create future budget liabilities, and;

WHEREAS, this is a recipe for disaster once federal funds run out for states that face current deficits in their unemployment funds;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) opposes forcing states, as a condition of federal funding, to change state unemployment insurance laws.

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, ALEC opposes measures that would change state unemployment insurance into a federally controlled public assistance social welfare program.

Approved by the Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force on July 16, 2009.

Approved by the ALEC Board of Directors on August 27, 2009.