Arizona Lawmakers Let Jobless Aid Lapse
Arizona Lawmakers Let Jobless Aid Lapse
Ross D. Franklin/AP
People surround application bins during a Bashas' Family of Stores job fair Wednesday, May 4, 2011, in Phoenix.
People surround application bins during a Bashas' Family of Stores job fair Wednesday, May 4, 2011, in Phoenix. Photographer: Ross D. Franklin/AP
Arizona lawmakers declined to act on a call by Governor Jan Brewer to extend federal jobless benefits, allowing support for 15,000 people and almost $3.5 million per week in federal aid to expire.
Republican lawmakers, who control the Legislature, argued that unemployment checks deter job-seeking. They also expressed concerns about the federal deficit and the amount of U.S. Treasuries held by China. Instead, they pushed for “job- creation” tax breaks for corporations.
“This is just a Band-Aid on a very infected sore, the bad economy of the United States,” Senator Sylvia Allen, a Republican from Snowflake, said yesterday during a special session called by Brewer. In the Senate’s opening prayer, which she led, Allen asked God to help unemployed workers find jobs.
In pushing fellow Republicans on jobless aid, Brewer broke ranks with the legislative leaders with whom she worked to pass laws that created a national uproar. She signed legislation last year requiring police officers to check immigration status of people they stop, a move that led to a court challenge by the Obama administration. She also slashed Medicaid funding for organ transplants and signed a measure allowing any citizen over 21 to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
Immigration Law
The immigration law spurred calls for convention boycotts by trade groups and local governments including the Los Angeles City Council. A November study, conducted by Arizona-based Elliott D. Pollack & Co. on behalf of the Center for American Progress, found that the state lost $141 million in direct spending by convention attendees because of the cancellations.
Brewer, 66, argued that rejecting the jobless aid would hurt the economy by causing the potential loss of about $90 million in federal funds by year-end. She also said in her statement calling the special session that similar legislation had been passed by “conservative strongholds like Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Idaho and South Carolina.”
The governor sought support for the extended benefits by adding additional accountability measures for recipients, requiring them to look for work four days a week instead of two and to accept any job they were offered that paid at least minimum wage. She also included a measure that would prevent some businesses from getting a tax increase next month.
Tax Breaks
Brewer declined to expand the session call to address bigger tax breaks for corporations pushed by legislative leaders including House Speaker Andy Tobin. She had vetoed similar plans earlier this year. The special meeting, which included a floor session on June 10, ended yesterday just one hour into the second day of work without consideration of any bills.
About 15,000 people in Arizona will receive their last unemployment payment this week, and 30,000 more may be affected by year-end, according the Economic Security Department. The payments would have provided 20 additional weeks of payments for the long-time unemployed, who will now be cut off at 79 weeks instead of 99.
“I remain concerned and deeply saddened for those families whose unemployment assistance will shortly expire, especially in this uncertain job market,” Brewer said in a statement after the session ended.
Jobless Rate
State law authorizes extended benefits when the unemployment rate is at least 110 percent of what it was two years earlier. Federal rules allow states to compare the rate to three years earlier.
The jobless aid expired this month because the state’s unemployment rate of 9.3 percent in April is unchanged from the same month in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was almost double the 4.9 percent of April 2008.
Democrats, who began calling for the issue to be addressed during the regular session that ended April 20, took to the floor to decry what they called the heartlessness of their colleagues. They are outnumbered in the Senate 21 to 9, and by 40 to 20 in the House.
“The message we are sending the state of Arizona and people who are suffering through this hard economic time is that we don’t care,” said Senator Steve Gallardo, a Democrat from Phoenix, who described extending the benefits as a “moral obligation.”
Some Republicans took the opportunity to blast Brewer for calling them to work at the last minute and for not conceding to do more on taxes as part of the deal.
Senator Ron Gould, a Republican from Lake Havasu City, said Brewer had thrown lawmakers “under the bus” even as she owed them for her election, which he credited to the immigration law, known as SB 1070, which catapulted Brewer to the national stage.
“This might be the thing that breaks the relationship,” Gould said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda J. Crawford in Phoenix at acrawford24@bloomberg.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net.
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