2021 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 70
BY SENATOR JACKSON
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the Louisiana congressional delegation to take actions as are necessary
to support modification of the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
supplement in such a manner as to encourage recipients to return to employment.
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in employers in agriculture, business,
and industry being required to temporarily, and in some cases for a period of one year, shut
down their operations and lay off their workers; and
WHEREAS, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were particularly devastating
to small farmers and businesses and their ability to conduct normal operations, if they were
able to operate at all; and
WHEREAS, these COVID-19 impacts to agricultural, business, and industrial
operations across the state resulted in massive numbers of workers losing their employment
in 2020, causing historic levels of unemployment benefit claiming by affected workers that
overwhelmed the Louisiana Workforce Commission's unemployment claims technology and
personnel; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana's unemployment insurance trust fund exceeded $1.2 billion
prior to the declarations of a statewide public health emergency that impacted employment
in the public and private sectors of the state, and those declarations remained effective
through the remainder of 2020; and
WHEREAS, the unprecedented amount of unemployment benefit claiming caused
the state's unemployment trust fund to become insolvent, necessitating the Louisiana
Workforce Commission having to borrow from the Federal Unemployment Account the
amounts required to pay weekly benefit claims provided for by Louisiana law; and
WHEREAS, with the availability of vaccines to immunize individuals from the novel
coronavirus, Louisiana's economy, along with states around the country, is finally recovering
from the effects of the pandemic; and
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WHEREAS, employers in agriculture, business, and industry are finally able to
reopen, engage with customers, receive orders, increase production, and perform services
but are experiencing difficulty finding the workers they need in order to do so, and in some
cases are precluded from even reopening their shops; and
WHEREAS, these employers report some of their former employees refusing to
return to work because their total weekly unemployment benefit amount supplemented by
the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation of $300 per week exceeds what they
would receive in wages; and
WHEREAS, it has long been understood that work is critical to a person's physical,
mental, and emotional well-being because their self-esteem as contributing members of our
society in large measure derives from partnering with others through work; and
WHEREAS, each day outside Louisiana's workforce deprives individuals of this
self-esteem and sense of worth, damaging their mental and emotional health and eroding
their work ethic.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation to promote
modifying the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation supplement provided by the
American Rescue Plan Act so that it would allow states to use such supplement to encourage
unemployed individuals to return to employment.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such 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 twenty percent
of such amount.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to each
member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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