Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/category/government/page/3/)
House Bill 468 would allow the Labor Cabinet to waive overpayment debt if the debt wasn’t the fault of the recipient or if collecting the debt would be “contrary to equity and good conscience.”
The state auditor said his findings “should be deeply concerning to taxpayers and those who have filed for UI benefits.”
A 2019 law requires that the state keep track of how many children are living outside the custody of their parents, but data still isn’t available.
KyCIR has documented the unemployment office’s hurried steps to make payments quickly as the pandemic shut down businesses in the spring.
Industrial parks sit nearly empty in counties spanning eastern Kentucky, the multi-million-dollar consequences of hollow promises to revive the region’s economy.
The federal government set aside $7 billion in 2009 to modernize the nation’s unemployment systems. Kentucky left its portion on the table.
Education professionals can’t claim unemployment during the summer break that started in Louisville on May 31, a caveat the state doesn’t appear to have made clear when it extended benefits to substitute teachers. Subs who continued to file for unemployment after summer break began are now expected to repay anything the state paid in error.
“These people don’t have that money. They paid for groceries, they used the money,” Sen. Nemes said. “That’s what unemployment is for. When you are unemployed you get your unemployment insurance and you pay your bills so you can get back to work.”
A proposed wildlife center got a $12 million federal grant after promising to bring millions of dollars and thousands of tourists to eastern Kentucky. Four years later, residents are still waiting for the jobs they were promised.
Gov. Andy Beshear acknowledged that Kentucky mistakenly overpaid people who requested unemployment benefits — and advised recipients to save that money.