2021-2023 Biennium Review: Unemployment Insurance

Session review
Jobs, Business & Economy State Budgets Taxes & Fees

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.1 million Washington workers collected unemployment benefits at some point during 2020 and 2021. States\’ UI systems and administration were not designed or prepared to handle a situation like COVID-19 with millions of individuals filing UI claims all at once. This led to individuals having trouble with their UI claims submissions and not being able to speak with someone at ESD which then led to approval and payment delays for many Washingtonians.

Bill Numbers:

HB 1486 (2021-22) HB 1493 (2021-22) SB 5061 (2021-22) SB 5190 (2021-22) SB 5193 (2021-22) SB 5478 (2021-22) SB 5873 (2021-22)

Keywords:

Budget Stabilization Account (BSA) Operating budget Public health Taxes Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund Unemployment tax

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