Governor, Others Press State Senate to Extend Unemployment Benefits

By a vote of 197-1 in early July, the State House of Representatives sent House Bill 1770 (Gergely, D-Allegheny) to the State Senate for its approval. The measure would provide an additional seven weeks of unemployment compensation and would be funded with federal stimulus dollars.

One reason the bill has not yet moved in the Senate is because they believe a full discussion on how to make the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund solvent should be tied to any extension of these benefits. An effort to fix the insolvency problem could result in Pennsylvania’s business community having to pay more in UC costs. However, the Senate is also demanding that labor/employees also share this burden. GCAP will continue to lobby this issue, and we will keep you posted via the website. In the meantime, for more information about House Bill 1770 0r UCTF insolvency, please contact GCAP at 717-512-6391 or email hidden; JavaScript is required.