03/23/2009 - Dems seeks to shield Ind. workers from unemployment cuts (Times of Northwest Indiana)

Dems seeks to shield Ind. workers from unemployment cuts

By Patrick Guinane

INDIANAPOLIS | Democrats in the Indiana Senate plan to offer a flurry of amendments this afternoon that would strike more than $250 million in worker benefit cuts included in a Republican plan to fix the state's insolvent unemployment fund.

"There are other ways than just cutting benefits for workers," said Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes.

Chief among the changes the minority Democrats plan to offer is an attempt to do away with a tiered benefits structure sought by Republicans.

The GOP plan aims to save $125 million annually by having weekly worker benefits ramp down from a maximum of $424 in first four weeks of unemployment to $310 after eight weeks. However, the unemployment could retain maximum benefits by entering a state training program.

Senate Democrats also want to eliminate a provision in House Bill 1379 that would allow Hoosiers working up to 44 weeks a year -- up from the current 26 weeks -- to be designated seasonal workers ineligible for unemployment. Democrats say the move, designed to save $129 million a year, could strip benefits from more than 44,000 families.

"This hurts the construction trades on one (end of) the spectrum and the agricultural workers," Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, said of the GOP proposal.

But with Republicans outnumbering Democrats 33-17 in the Senate, do any of the proposed amendments have a chance of being adopted?

"It's likely that we won't be," conceded Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville. "But we wanted to draw line in the sand."

Fixing the state's busted jobless fund has become a contentious partisan issue, one that likely won't be decided until the General Assembly approaches its April 29 adjournment deadline.

Indiana has borrowed more $530 million from the federal government since December, when the unemployment went bankrupt after eight straight years in which worker payouts exceeded employer taxes. The Senate GOP plan calls for restoring the fund to solvency in 2011 by raising employer taxes by $328 million annually and seeking $544 million a year in savings by reducing worker benefits and ending perceived abuses of the system, including the seasonal worker change.