East Idaho Times

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), and 10 Senate co-sponsors introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at enhancing the nation’s unemployment insurance system. The legislation, titled the Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act, focuses on improving program administration and integrity to combat fraud and enhance access to benefits for eligible workers.

“The Covid-19 pandemic showed that unemployment insurance systems were too often unable to keep up with the needs of American workers and too vulnerable to fraud,” said Crapo and Wyden. “This bipartisan bill will go a long way to making the UI system more accessible to workers who need it and protecting taxpayer dollars by recouping and preventing fraud.”

The bill is co-sponsored by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Todd Young (R-Indiana), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island).

A section-by-section outline of the legislation is available here, along with the full bill text. A summary is provided below:

The Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program was both difficult for workers to access and vulnerable to fraud. The Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act aims to prevent future UI fraud while ensuring those who defrauded the system during the pandemic are brought to justice. It also seeks relief for claimants who were overpaid but cannot afford repayment or face other hardships, while making UI systems more accessible to eligible workers.

Unemployment Insurance Fraud and Overpayment Recovery

Extends the federal statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance fraud from 5 years to 10 years.

Allows states to waive overpayments of pandemic unemployment insurance not recovered as of enactment in non-fraud cases where repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience. States must waive these non-fraud overpayments if no overpayment is established by December 31, 2025.

Permits states to retain 5 percent of recovered overpayments of unemployment compensation and employer unemployment taxes collected as part of state investigations. States may retain up to 25 percent of recoveries from fraudulent pandemic unemployment overpayments. These retained funds can be invested in improving unemployment insurance administration.

Unemployment Insurance Program Integrity

Requires states to crossmatch unemployment compensation claims against the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) to prevent claimants from collecting UI if they are working.

Mandates states use systems like the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES) for electronic transmission of accurate claim information between employers and states.

Obliges states to use crossmatching systems such as the Integrity Data Hub (IDH) for identifying potentially fraudulent claims.

Requires states to crossmatch claims against the Social Security Administration’s prisoner database.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations ensuring proper implementation of crossmatching requirements.

Unemployment Insurance Administration and Technology

Implements new access and technology requirements for online claim filing systems alongside in-person alternatives.

Mandates states provide guidance enabling employers' eligible workers’ access benefits.

Provides oversight for federal investments into UI program administration.

A web version of this release is available here.

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