Baldacci pushes to extend unemployment benefits
The governor is pushing a bill that would change the way Maine triggers its extended unemployment benefits, a measure that could bring as much as $38 million in federal funds to pay for up to 13 weeks of additional benefits for jobless Mainers.
The bill requires the creation of a fund of about $500,000 to pay for unemployment benefits of public and tribal employees, people who are prohibited from receiving benefit extensions via the federal economic recovery act. Creating that fund triggers federal stimulus money that would be directed to private sector employees who lost their jobs, according to Capital News Service.
More than 26,000 Mainers are receiving regular unemployment benefits, and about 7,000 are receiving emergency benefits. About a handful will lose their benefits this week, according to the news service, and Baldacci predicts approximately 9,900 Mainers could exhaust their unemployment benefits this year. The measure is also expected to shift more unemployment costs onto the federal government, helping limit what is likely to be an increase in state unemployment taxes later this year.
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