SLS 21RS-2621 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 70
BY SENATOR JACKSON
CONGRESS. Requests Louisiana congressional delegation to take steps to modify the
federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation supplement in a way that will promote
individual claiming benefits to return to work.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Louisiana congressional delegation to take actions as are necessary
3 to support modification of the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
4 supplement in such a manner as to encourage recipients to return to employment.
5 WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in employers in agriculture, business,
6 and industry being required to temporarily, and in some cases for a period of one year, shut
7 down their operations and lay off their workers; and
8 WHEREAS, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly devastating
9 to small farmers and businesses and their ability to conduct normal operations, if they were
10 able to operate at all; and
11 WHEREAS, these COVID-19 impacts to agricultural, business, and industrial
12 operations across the state resulted in massive numbers of workers losing their employment
13 in 2020, causing historic levels of unemployment benefit claiming by affected workers that
14 overwhelmed the Louisiana Workforce Commission's unemployment claims technology and
15 personnel; and
16 WHEREAS, Louisiana's unemployment insurance trust fund exceeded $1.2 billion
17 prior to the declarations of a statewide public health emergency that impacted employment
18 in the public and private sectors of the state, and those declarations remained effective
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SLS 21RS-2621 ORIGINAL
1 through the remainder of 2020; and
2 WHEREAS, the unprecedented amount of unemployment benefit claiming caused
3 the state's unemployment trust fund to become insolvent, necessitating the Louisiana
4 Workforce Commission having to borrow from the Federal Unemployment Account the
5 amounts required to pay weekly benefit claims provided for by Louisiana law; and
6 WHEREAS, with the availability of vaccines to immunize individuals from the novel
7 coronavirus, Louisiana's economy, along with states around the country, is finally recovering
8 from the effects of the pandemic; and
9 WHEREAS, employers in agriculture, business, and industry are finally able to
10 reopen, engage with customers, receive orders, increase production, and perform services
11 but are experiencing difficulty finding the workers they need in order to do so, and in some
12 cases are precluded from even reopening their shops; and
13 WHEREAS, these employers report some of their former employees refusing to
14 return to work because their total weekly unemployment benefit amount supplemented by
15 the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation of $300 per week exceeds what they
16 would receive in wages; and
17 WHEREAS, it has long been understood that work is critical to a person's physical,
18 mental, and emotional well being because their self-esteem as contributing members of our
19 society in large measure derives from partnering with others through work; and
20 WHEREAS, each day outside Louisiana's workforce deprives individuals of this
21 self-esteem and sense of worth, damaging their mental and emotional health and eroding
22 their work ethic.
23 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
24 urge and request each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation to promote
25 modifying the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation supplement provided by the
26 American Rescue Plan Act so that it would allow states to use such supplement to encourage
27 unemployed individuals to return to employment.
28 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such modification should include the option to
29 incentivize return to work by using the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation supplement
30 to cover the difference between weekly wages individuals receive upon returning to work
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1 and the weekly unemployment benefit amount they had been receiving plus twenty percent
2 of such amount.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to each
4 member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
SCR 70 Original 2021 Regular Session Jackson
Requests each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation to promote modifying the
federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation supplement provided by the American
Rescue Plan Act to allow states to use the supplement to encourage unemployed individuals
to return to employment. The modification should include the option to incentivize return
to work by using the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation supplement to cover the
difference between weekly wages individuals receive upon returning to work and the weekly
unemployment benefit amount they had been receiving plus 20% of such amount.
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