PrintPrintThe General Assembly is set to convene next week to correct an oversight by the Employment Security Commission so that South Carolinians will not lose federal unemployment benefits. Lawmakers will gather at noon Oct. 27.
Staff Report
Published Oct. 20, 2009
The General Assembly is set to convene next week to correct an oversight by the Employment Security Commission so that South Carolinians will not lose federal unemployment benefits.
The employment agency did not alert the General Assembly that federal unemployment funds were in jeopardy as a result of lawmakers’ failure to tie the benefits to the unemployment rate — instead of the number of jobless.
Lawmakers will gather at noon Oct. 27 to remedy the situation. They expect the process to take no longer than a few days.
“The General Assembly will take quick action to fix this oversight by the ESC to ensure that unemployed South Carolinians will not suffer further by being denied this federal benefit,” House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell said in a joint statement.
“It is unfortunate that the Legislature must return to fix this problem. This oversight was completely avoidable and further highlights the need for reforming the ESC from a reactive check-writing agency into a proactive job placement agency. Just as the ESC waited until the eleventh hour to warn the General Assembly about the dwindling unemployment trust fund, again the ESC has laid this problem at the feet of lawmakers at the last possible minute.”
Lawmakers will receive no additional pay for these session days.
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