After Gov. Perdue vetoed a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks, unemployment benefit checks have been cut off for an estimated 37,000 out of work North Carolinians.
But the issue is not off the table yet, although Republican leaders are acknowledging that they are placing a fix for the State Health Plan as a higher priority (another bill that Perdue vetoed previously).
According to the Wilmington Star News:
Compensation payments have been cut off for more than a week amid a partisan tug-of-war between GOP lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue. Jobless workers whose payments were stopped April 16 could recover the money later if legislators and Perdue agree to change the eligibility formula.
“It’s not dead. We may see something,” said Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson and a member of the chamber’s leadership team. His acknowledgement that legislators would revisit the lost jobless benefits was first reported by the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Lawmakers need urgently to cope with an earlier Perdue veto and craft a combination of premium increases, benefit cuts and taxpayer funding for the state health insurance plan for 663,000 state employees, teachers, retirees and their dependents, Apodaca said. Perdue vetoed a proposal that would have required all active workers to pay a monthly premium for their own insurance for the first time as part of the plan to help close a $515 million projected shortfall through mid-2013.
The state health plan fix is “the first priority. Then we can look at other vetoes,” Apodaca said.
I have a college education and worked in construction supervision for over 30 years. Who do you think is going to hire me knowing that I’ll go back to my profession after multi-family construction picks up (they say should be soon). In the meantime, I have continued my eduction on-line while laid off (LEED certification). My unemployment is desparately needed. One week the state unemployment site said I have several weeks left and the next it said I have only one (which was ended April 16, 2011). That really hurt!