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Excellent point here, Lanah, and thank you for making it. Why, not even once during this squabble of HB 383, was anything mentioned of H 676? Obviously, there's more to this than meets the eye...! ! ! I support 100% the passage to correct the legislation and keep in place EB Benefits... My best wishes to all and hopefully we will have some positive news come later today.
H676 has been mentioned. Several news articles have mentioned that there are competing bills. They would have gotten that information from the Democratic legislators.
I called today about retro-activity of EB. Obviously I had to call Raleigh because our local ESC agents in Charlotte are still stuck on the " there will not be an extension" role . The agent I spoke with said that the ESC IS anticipating an continuation of EB benefits and are prepared to have people apply for EB and continue to file if a bill is passed by April 16th. As for retro-activity if it's passed later,,, she said quote,,,,," The only people that will get back pay are the ones that were already on EB and continue to file claims". Therefore, if you were already on EB and stop filing your claim because you thought the extension was gone forever ( Which Charlotte agents are telling people) then you won't get money for those weeks. Also,,,, and here's the kicker,,, if you are not on EB before April 16th and a bill isn't passed before that date then you will not receive back pay for any missing weeks between the time you were supposed to be on EB and the time they pass the bill.
That made no sense to me, but she explained it by reminding me that a person has to apply and qualify for EB. It's not automatic like going from one tier to another. She said,, currently if a person applies it normally takes a day or two at most but for some it can take two to three weeks to complete especially if they had any appeals,,, If that is the case then you don't get paid for those two weeks.
So if no bill is passed then NO new applicants can apply, qualify and start to file for EB starting Monday. Existing EBers can continue to file.
What that means for people who are very close to the end of tier 4 is that if this takes a month for example while the two parties point fingers. Then they will not get a penny for that time because technically they are not on EB yet and won't be able to file claims.
Here is House Bill 676. Are there any lawyers or technical writers here that could put it into plain English?
I don't know how to disentangle EB benefits from the Republican garbage in Bill 383, so I won't even try. Somebody else can post a link to that if they want.
Something to think about LanahB, is that it's entirely possible H676 and the Republican bill differ in their retroactivity.
Republicans do all they can to muck it up, cause dissension, and divide and conquer.
I'm not sure, after reading the Carolina Journal article, that I understand what the Dems have such a big problem with. Granted, I don't like the way politics is structured where you even can glue two issues together like that, but... all the Republicans seem to have put in is something where, if like with the recent federal budget panic, the state can't pass a budget, then instead of a full shutdown of government you have a "soft" shutdown. Bad, but better than a full shutdown. If there's more to it than that, then I must be missing some political nuance (like, why the article says there would no longer be a deadline).
Senate gives final approval to jobless benefits / budget cuts continuing resolution: 30-17. Back to House for concurrence. Still tying bill to unemployment benefits in absurd budget resolution. Workers held hostage Day 2.
Last edited by laidoffafter50; 04-14-2011 at 11:24 AM..
I don't know how to disentangle EB benefits from the Republican garbage in Bill 383, so I won't even try. Somebody else can post a link to that if they want.
Something to think about LanahB, is that it's entirely possible H676 and the Republican bill differ in their retroactivity.
Republicans do all they can to muck it up, cause dissension, and divide and conquer.
aBCD12,,, the agent told me that what she was saying is regardless of the bill. I don't even know if she knew about H383, I didn't at the time I called her. She made it sound like it has more to do with the way EB is set up in general. The bill can say retroactive but that only applies to the people already on it. She could wrong,,god knows they have been wrong before but she didn't sound like your typical negative agent that you get sometimes when you called. As a matter of fact she stated that the ESC is anticipating a passed bill before hand,, in other words they are getting things in place in order for it to run smoothly if something is passed.
Here's what happened on H383. Senate passed it but didn't send it by special messenger because Rep. Nesbitt said he would object - 2/3 to override. So now NCGA House won't get H383 till next legislative day - tomorrow, or 12:01am tonight - unless Nesbitt changes mind. Democrats in caucus.
All I have to say about this is that if they vote it down or Veto it,, then they BETTER have 676 ready but guess what 676 has gone no where for a week. This is what I mean about being proactive. They could fast track that bill but they haven't done a thing with it. What did Gov. Perdue mean by her statment that " the Republicans are rushing things,,it's not even April 15th yet".
No it's not April 15th but it's April 14th and 676 isn't no where near ready for vote.
I beilieve this will get passed one way or another but I have a feeling this is going to take a while because of a p****g contest.
Frustrates me like know other.
Here's what happened on H383. Senate passed it but didn't send it by special messenger because Rep. Nesbitt said he would object - 2/3 to override. So now NCGA House won't get H383 till next legislative day - tomorrow, or 12:01am tonight - unless Nesbitt changes mind. Democrats in caucus.
I thought a 2/3 override was only needed to override a governor's veto.
I pay much more attention to federal legislation than state, so I really don't know how that works.
In my heart, I believe this compromise with the devil is wrong, wrong, wrong. We, the unemployed, are not the totality of all that matters. Why do Democrats have such a problem with this, some of you ask? Please get real. You know perfectly well that there's untold damage that can be done if the state budget undergoes a 13% cut or if Democrats are forced to accept a budget on completely Republican terms.
Think about this, Unemployed. These EB benefits last for a maximum of 20 weeks. Then where will we be? What if there are still no jobs out there when EB ends? I'm not sure what services are provided by federal government and what is provided by state, but any of us could easily find ourselves in a helpless position if say, we got sick and had no health insurance, and well, surprise, surprise Medicaid funding has been cut in this state or community health centers have been cut, food stamps have been cut, or whatever!
Please slow down and think about this. It's the pressure of feeling that something has to happen NOW, NOW, NOW that forces people to make unwise decisions. I sincerely believe that we'll be better off in the long run, the unemployed specifically as well as the state in general, if we wake up and realize we don't have to accept the crumbs that the Republicans are offering.
House Bill 676 is a good bill. It can and will pass if we don't panic. We don't want to accept an inferior bill, only to wake up in 20 weeks and realize our state has become a wasteland. That is a price too high to pay for 20 weeks of unemployment benefits, especially when there's another route to getting those benefits.
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