The California Chamber of Commerce and a broad-based coalition of employer organizations are strongly supporting Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal to help reduce the record debt in the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Fund. More than 60 statewide business organizations and local chambers of commerce, representing tens of thousands of employers with hundreds of thousands of workers, are urging the Legislature to adopt this proposal.
Governor Newsom is proposing that $3 billion be paid toward UI debt, covering the state’s responsibility for distributing fraudulent payments, as well as a partial but meaningful portion of the UI Fund’s outstanding $19.7 billion insolvency.
In a letter sent to members of the state Legislature on Wednesday, the coalition pointed out, “Given that California has had back-to-back budget surpluses, now is the right time to use a portion of this year’s surplus to help reduce the present insolvency, which will lessen the state’s own future obligations while simultaneously covering the cost of UI fraud and helping minimize future tax increases on California’s recovering businesses.”