In Missouri, the forgiveness of overpaid CARES Act unemployment benefits doesn’t apply but GOP Rep. Jered Taylor is among a group of bipartisan lawmakers who are pushing to change that rule in order to help 46,000 residents.
“People spent that money on the necessities during the pandemic in order to make ends meet,” Taylor told the St. Louis Record. “They spent it on food, housing, clothing, and utilities just to make it through a time where there was some uncertainty and we know that they don't have that money. So, we're trying to alleviate some of that by waiving the federal portion.”
As previously reported, even though Gov. Mike Parson and Missouri Department of Labor Director Anna Hui are able to forgive some $150 million in federal unemployment benefits that were overpaid to Missourians, both have insisted on collecting until HB 1083 was filed.
“By us starting the process, that may have helped change Gov. Parson’s mind,” Taylor said. “I'm encouraged that this is the direction we're moving in.”
Sponsored by GOP Rep. J. Eggleston, HB 1083 would forgive the federal portion of unemployment overpayments but not the state’s, which was only 20% of the total amount disbursed, according to Taylor.
“The maximum amount that you can get of the state portion was around $360 and then when the feds kicked in the additional amounts under the CARES Act, it plussed it up,” he said.
Just this week HB 1083 passed to the floor from the Committee on Government Oversight, which Taylor chairs.
“We're trying to get this done as quickly as possible,” he said. “We didn't want to make a mistake, which then we'd have to come back to fix. So, we are leaving the authority up to the Department of Labor to promulgate rules and to use existing statute to make definitions or to define the terms.”
If the bill is approved by the House and Senate, residents who were overpaid federal unemployment benefits during the pandemic would be able to circumvent a state law, which requires them to pay it back or face garnishment of their wages.
“The problem is that the state encouraged people to apply for unemployment, the feds encouraged people to apply, businesses encouraged employees to apply and the normal waiting periods were waived,” Taylor said. “If we waived the state portion of it, our small businesses who are already hurting, would have to be paying more into this trust fund. It’s something that would hurt our small businesses.”