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E-Newsletter
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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I want to extend my warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to our friends in Senate District 5 and folks across the state that I have had the pleasure of working with this past year. The holidays are a time to remember the valued traditions that bring us together. It is a time to rededicate ourselves to build upon what we share as Americans and as citizens of our great state.
Believing that there is more that binds us together than separates us, I worked together with my colleagues and the governor this year to deliver an impressive set of legislative accomplishments that put Oregon families and small businesses first, reinvested in public education, bolstered job creation, and made college more affordable and accessible.
While many bills passed during the 2013 Legislative Session have already become law, there are some important new laws that will take effect on January 1st. Among these are laws that will:
- promote the early detection of breast cancer by requiring doctors to notify patients of dense breast tissue indicated by a mammogram. (SB 420)
- make Oregon roads safer by funding 100 new signs across Oregon warning motorists that using cell phones is against the law and raising the penalties for using a hand-held cell phone while driving. (SB 9)
- improve Oregon’s requirements for energy-efficient appliances to ensure that our state does not become a dumping ground for obsolete household appliances. (SB 692)
- enable cities to tap into the research and education expertise of Oregon’s universities to promote economic growth. (SB 241)
- help the public keep track of “Buy Oregon” incentives that encourage agencies to buy agricultural products produced and transported entirely within Oregon. (HB 3400)
I look forward to returning to the State Capitol next year where I will continue my work on behalf of all the families in my district while creating a climate in which local businesses thrive, and ensuring that our public schools get the funding they need. These are my long-standing priorities that I will promote in the 2014 Legislative Session.
Most sincerely yours,
Senator Arnie Roblan, Oregon Senate District 5
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Oregon Employment Department
Impact of the End of Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation on Oregon
In typical times, people who become unemployed through no fault of their own may be able to receive up to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Throughout the Great Recession and its recovery, there have been several extensions of the normal benefit periods. These extensions have changed several times, at some points permitting people to receive up to 99 weeks of benefits on a single claim for UI benefits.
Some of these extensions have already phased out due to decreases in Oregon’s unemployment rate and to federal legislative changes. Some people in Oregon are still eligible to receive Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits, permitting them to receive up to 63 weeks of UI benefits on a claim. These EUC benefits are federally funded UI benefits available to people who have exhausted their regular UI benefits.
Unless Congress takes action to extend the EUC benefits, nobody will be eligible to receive EUC benefits for time periods after December 28, 2013. Absent Congressional action, the end of EUC benefits will mean that some people who are receiving EUC benefits will stop receiving any UI benefits and that others who will run out of regular UI benefits in 2014 will not be able to start receiving EUC benefits.
At the end of December, approximately 20,000 people will be receiving EUC benefits in Oregon. Of those, about 2,200 are projected to be eligible to receive other UI benefits. The remaining 17,800 people, however, will not be able to receive any further UI benefits. Additionally, it is estimated that an average of about 900 people per week will exhaust their regular UI benefits in 2014. These people would generally have been eligible to begin receiving EUC benefits, but will not have those benefits available if the program is permitted to expire.
If you have questions about this information, please contact David Gerstenfeld, the Employment Department’s Assistant Director for Unemployment Insurance, at David.K.Gerstenfeld@state.or.us or (503) 947-1707.
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900 Court St. NE, S-417, Salem Oregon 97301