Va. Senate favors accepting stimulus jobless funds

[Blue_Tires]

Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates will have a second chance to grab the $125 million in federal stimulus funds for unemployment insurance they left on the table last year.

Senate Bill 239, sponsored by Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, passed the Virginia Senate with bipartisan support, 31-9.

Watkins' legislation would allow Virginia to qualify for the stimulus funds by extending state unemployment benefits to people who have exhausted their eligibility but who are enrolled in training programs.

The bill would also extend benefits to people who leave their jobs for a compelling family reason, such as domestic violence, serious illness or disability of a family member, or to accompany a spouse in a job change that makes it impossible to continue their own work.

At the General Assembly's reconvened session last April, the House defeated a proposal backed by then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to qualify for the funds by extending benefits to part-time workers and to people who are training for new jobs.

GOP lawmakers and then-gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell opposed expanding unemployment insurance eligibility to those groups, arguing that the obligation to extend benefits would become an unfunded mandate that would drive up the costs on the state's employers once the funding runs out.

Others expressed concerns that giving benefits to part-timers could discourage the jobless from returning to work by freeing them to reject positions they deemed unappealing.

Watkins' bill essentially substitutes the voluntary job separation qualification for the part-time provision.

McDonnell press secretary Stacey Johnson issued a brief statement on the issue yesterday: "The governor does not support tax increases."

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/JOBS10_20100209-205607/323227/