Controversial Federal Bill Could Require States to Pay Billions for New Unemployment Benefit

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

Controversial Federal Bill Could Require States to Pay Billions for New Unemployment Benefit

WASHINGTON / June 4, 2019 – The Coalition to End Domestic Violence is warning state lawmakers of the recent passage of a controversial bill in the House of Representatives that would cost state governments billions of dollars for additional unemployment benefits. H.R. 1585, known as the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), was approved in the House of Representatives on April 4 by a vote of 263 to 158. The bill is now under consideration in the Senate.

H.R. 1585 includes a new unemployment benefit that states, “no person may be denied compensation under such State law solely on the basis of the individual having a voluntary separation from work if such separation is attributable to such individual being a…survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.” (Section 703(a)).

Traditionally, unemployment benefits have been provided only to persons who are terminated “without cause.” Under H.R. 1585, persons wishing to terminate their employment for any reason could receive unemployment benefits by means of a simple “attestation” to have experienced domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

H.R. 1585 also broadens definitions of domestic violence to include “a pattern of behavior involving the use or attempted use of physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, economic, or technological abuse.” (Section 2(10)) Verbal and emotional abuse is not defined by the bill, so a person could demand unemployment benefits based on experiencing the “silent treatment” by one’s partner, or after being called an unpleasant name. By such definitions, practically every American has experienced some form of “domestic violence.”

According to a recent statement endorsed by over 100 leaders, “The House-passed VAWA bill would dramatically increase unemployment insurance and thus impose an enormous tax on employers that would result in a loss of jobs.” (1) In CY 2018, unemployment benefits in the United States amounted to $27.5 billion (2). VAWA’s new entitlement could cause payouts to balloon by 10%, costing taxpayers $2.75 billion a year.

According to the Department of Commerce’s latest Trust Fund Solvency Report, unemployment trust funds do not meet minimum standards for solvency in 24 areas: AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MN, MO, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, WI, WV, and the Virgin Islands (3). In addition, nine other states are teetering on the brink of insolvency because they have Average High Cost Multiple ratings of less than 1.10: DC, FL, GA, MI, ND, NH, NM, and VA, and WA.

Broadening definitions of domestic violence to include verbal, emotional, economic, or technological abuse trivializes the serious problem of physical domestic violence, and would divert limited resources away from the most needy victims (4). The complete text of H.R. 1585 is available online (5).

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