Rep. Mitzi Epstein | Facebook
Rep. Mitzi Epstein | Facebook
A bipartisan effort is fueling a bill that would increase unemployment insurance in Arizona to $300 a week.
The current maximum benefit Arizonans could receive in unemployment is $240 per week.
"We need to do something to help people in Arizona and this is direct help. Nothing works better than unemployment insurance in a recession to help get us out of the recession. It’s a job maker," Democrat Rep. Mitzi Epstein said.
Having filed a number of unemployment bills this session, Epstein articulated that "unemployment insurance is supposed to be the bridge to the next job. And for folks with a good career and a couple of kids and a mortgage, it has not been anywhere near a bridge."
The bill will also incentivize part-time work which would allow people “to make more money in part-time jobs at $160 per week while collecting unemployment from DES,” Fox 10 Phoenix reported. It is presently capped at $30. An approximate $11 more per employee will be charged to businesses annually.
"Those are extra dollars that are put into our economy today which is an economy builder and what we need to do," Republican Rep. David Cook said.
Cook and Epstein are looking forward to making the state’s unemployment benefits better.
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