DES MOINES (KWWL) - A bill that would take away unemployment benefits for Iowans with multiple dependents and create a one-week waiting period for benefits is moving through the Iowa legislature.
The House Labor Committee approved House Study Bill 203 last week, sending it to the full floor for a debate and vote.
Republicans backing the bill say it's necessary to not duplicate aid being given by the federal government and also puts Iowa more in line with what other states offer. Democrats say it discourages large families from staying in Iowa and is inappropriate during a pandemic.
The latest unemployment rate reported by Iowa Workforce Development was 3.1% for December 2020.
How are unemployment benefits currently calculated in Iowa?
IWD calculates unemployment benefits based on a person's highest-earning quarter during their base period. The state takes a percentage of your total earning during that quarter and breaks it into weekly payments.
How much you get each week depends on how many dependents you have. Someone with zero dependents gets their quarterly earnings divided by 23, and someone with four or more dependents gets their earnings divided by 19.
| 0 dependents | x/23 |
| 1 dep. | x/22 |
| 2 deps. | x/21 |
| 3 deps. | x/20 |
| 4 or more deps. | x/19 |
Someone making $30,000 a year with zero dependents would get payments of $326.09 a week. That same salary with four dependents would get $394.74 per week.
What would this bill change?
HSB 203, which is now an unnumbered House File, would take the current five-step scale and make it a two-step scale, with everyone having "one of more" dependents treated the same.
Republicans claim this would curb the amount of people taking advantage of the system.
"There are cases where people either misrepresent or do not understand how many dependents they have. They may be counting how many people are in their house --which isn't necessarily dependents," Rep. Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada, said. Deyoe is the bill manager and chairperson for the labor committee.
The bill would also give Iowa a one-week waiting period before unemployment benefits kick in. Iowa is one of eight states that does not have a waiting period currently.
Deyoe says the federal government would cover this one-week waiting period during the pandemic and thus Iowa is losing out on millions of dollars of aid.
Democrats say we should be proud we don't have a waiting period and also not rely on Washington to bail us out.
"In Iowa, we don't always rely on what the federal government's going to do. We do what's right for our people," Rep. Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, D-Cedar Rapids, said.
Running-Marquardt says we should have all tools available to get Iowa out of the pandemic, and not rely on federal aid; which has been inconsistent over the last year.
The bill would also change the maximum amount of a weekly payment someone can receive. Right now, there's also a five-step scale (based on dependents) to mark the maximum weekly payment. It's a percentage based on the state average weekly salary for insured workers.
| 0 deps. | x/23 | 53% |
| 1 dep. | x/22 | 55% |
| 2 deps. | x/21 | 57% |
| 3 deps. | x/20 | 60% |
| 4 or more | x/19 | 65% |
The new scale would look like this:
| 0 deps. | x/23 | 55% |
| 1 or more deps. | x/22 | 57% |
While people with one dependent could plausibly receive more, everyone with three or more dependents gets their cap lowered to 57%.
Because of the pandemic, the law would not take effect until July 2022 if passed. Lawmakers do not know when it might be debated on the full floor.
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March 02, 2021 at 12:24PM
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Bill cutting unemployment benefits for large families moving through Iowa House - kwwl.com
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