U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) are the main sponsors on a bill that would make improvements to the unemployment insurance system.
The legislation, titled the Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act, seeks to prevent future UI fraud and help ensure those who defrauded the system during the pandemic are brought to justice. It would also provide relief for claimants who were overpaid and cannot afford repayment or face other hardships. In addition, it would take steps to make UI systems more accessible to eligible workers.
“The Covid-19 pandemic showed that unemployment insurance systems were too often unable to keep up with the needs of American workers and too vulnerable to fraud,” Wyden and Crapo said. “This bipartisan bill will go a long way to making the UI system more accessible to workers who need it and protecting taxpayer dollars by recouping and preventing fraud.”
Cosponsors of the bill include Sens. Michael Bennet (D-C), James Lankford (R-OK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Barrasso (R-WY), Gary Peters (D-MI), Todd Young (R-IN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jim Risch (R-ID), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).
Among the key provisions, the bill would:
• Extend the federal statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance fraud to 10 years, from 5 years under current law;
• Allow states to waive overpayments of pandemic unemployment insurance that have not been recovered as of date of enactment in non-fraud cases where repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience. States are required to waive these non-fraud overpayments if no overpayment is established by Dec. 31, 2025;
• Allow states to retain 5 percent of recovered overpayments of unemployment compensation and 5 percent of employer unemployment taxes collected as part of a state investigation. States may retain up to 25 percent of overpayment recoveries of fraudulent pandemic unemployment overpayments. It would also allow states to invest retained funds in improving unemployment insurance administration;
• Require states to crossmatch unemployment compensation claims against the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) to prevent claimants from collecting UI if they are working;
• Require states to utilize systems such as the State Information Data Exchange (SIDES) to allow electronic transmission of accurate claim information between employers and states;
• Require states to use crossmatching systems such as the Integrity Data Hub (IDH) to identify potentially fraudulent unemployment claims;
• Require states to crossmatch unemployment compensation claims against the Social Security Administration’s prisoner database to prevent fraud;
• Require the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations to ensure proper implementation of crossmatching requirements;
• Implement new access and technology requirements for online claim filing systems and in-person alternatives;
• Require states to provide guidance to employers to facilitate their eligible workers’ access to benefits; and
• Provide oversight of federal investments into the administration of UI programs.