Lawmakers in shock after learning state overpaid millions in unemployment benefits
Republican and Democratic members of the Legislative Finance Committee were in shock after learning the Department of Workforce Solutions overpaid millions of dollars in unemployment benefits.
"We are left with trying to fix this problem," said Republican Sen. Crystal Diamond. "What we don't want to happen is-- we don't want small businesses to be left having to really carry the weight of this."
Representative Patricia Lundstrom, the Democratic chair of the Legislative Finance Committee agrees with Diamond that the overpayment is damaging to the state. We don't want to see any automatic increases to business," Lundstrom said. "That is the key issue."
At a minimum, they say they'll start looking at the deficit in January's budget session, but first they need Workforce Solutions to address problems. "Immediately address their lack of staffing here to contract with people, to immediately begin to address the backlogs of reported fraud that's happening with our unemployment department," Diamond said. Lundstrom hopes the people involved in fraud and identity theft are caught, and Diamond is looking for additional accountability.
The governor’s office declined an interview with KOB 4.
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