Lawmakers urged to take unemployment stimulus funds

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, told fellow lawmakers Wednesday the unemployment money in the federal stimulus package not only will benefit those without jobs but business and the entire economy.

She urged a joint session of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees to pass legislation accepting all of the nearly $300 million Nevada is eligible for.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, questioned one portion of the plan, however, saying the legal change expanding eligibility to low-income and construction workers would become a permanent cost to the state after the funding runs out.

That is the same part of the package Gov. Jim Gibbons has questioned, saying he won't take money that commits the state to future long-term costs.

Buckley responded that the state could "revisit" that law and potentially change the language at a later date. But she said there is good reason not to do that.

"Most of these are minimum-wage workers and construction workers," she said. "We don't want them packing up and leaving because we need them when times are better."

The $77 million in that portion of the package, she said, could enable a large percentage of those workers to stay here until the economy turns around so they are available for work when businesses needs them again.

She was backed on that point by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Spokesman Veronica Meter said the stimulus would help "spur economic recovery in our state."

"The benefits outweigh the risks," she said.

Buckley also said the $77 million would help reduce the amount Nevada will have to borrow from the federal government when its Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is exhausted.

Cindy Jones, administrator of the Employment Security Division, said she expects Nevada will run out of money in the trust fund by the end of the year and have to borrow as much as $750 million from the federal government in 2010. Jones said anything the state can do to reduce the amount it borrows would ease the

unemployment tax that must be imposed to pay down that debt as the state recovers.

She said things are so bad the division will spend nearly $1 billion this year, completely draining the fund.

The last time Nevada had to borrow for the unemployment security trust fund was in 1974.

The stimulus money comes in several pots, according to Buckley. The package would not only extend benefits but increase every weekly check by $25 and cover part-time workers who lost jobs. The total for Nevada would come to nearly $220 million.

In addition to that, there is the $77 million to expand eligibility to an estimated 4,137 people who are not now eligible.

Jones said altogether, the unemployed would be eligible for up to 79 weeks of benefits if the legislation and resolution are approved.

There was no opposition to the measures.

Larry Mosley, director of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said although Gov. Gibbons has expressed concern about the expanded eligibility provisions, he has still not made a final decision whether he will oppose taking that money.

The committee took no action on the bill or resolution.