Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | 4:06 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Panel approves bill to accept federal jobless funds (3-23-2009)
- Lawmakers hear support for increasing jobless benefits (3-18-2009)
- Legislature will accept jobless funds despite governor’s concerns (3-16-2009)
- Gibbons to Obama: State might reject some stimulus funds (3-11-2009)
- Strings on money for jobless create knots (3-4-2009)
Gov. Jim Gibbons said today he will accept all unemployment funds available to Nevada in the federal stimulus package.
The amount is expected to surpass $291 million.
Gibbons has supported part of the federal plan, extending unemployment benefits for an additional seven weeks to the jobless. But he had not decided until today whether to back a plan to expand eligibility, saying it might have long-term effects on business.
There has been concern by some that adding the 4,100 people would lead to an increase in the 1.33 percent rate charged to employers for each worker. Lawmakers said the extra $77 million to support this program will last anywhere from four to eight years before the state must come up with the money.
The governor came out today in support of that $77 million, as well as other jobless funds.
"The federal government has recently assured states that the expanded coverage base can be retracted in the future, before funding for such coverage becomes a permanent state obligation," the governor's office said in a statement.
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