Generally shorter legislative sessions and looming elections didn’t stop four more states – Virginia, Mississippi, Ohio, and South Dakota – from passing program integrity requirements into law in 2022. 11-12-13-14-15-16 Kansas was particularly thorough with its approach, requiring cross-checks with, among other things, federal Social Security Administration databases which can help verify claimant identity and incarceration status (thanks to the Prisoner Update Processing System). In 2021 there was a flurry of legislative activity as Arizona, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Kansas, Montana, and West Virginia all enacted statutory requirements that their workforce agencies implement robust program integrity measures. Once again Republicans and Democrats worked together to promote program integrity. Louisiana expanded the scope of its program integrity requirements two years later to require LWC to scrutinize UI claims filed from foreign IP addresses and aggressively pursue the recovery of fraudulently claimed benefits. 9 Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards signed the measure into law- proof that fighting unemployment fraud is a good-government issue that doesn’t require partisan disagreement. In 2020, Louisiana’s Republican-majority legislature passed a bill requiring the Louisiana Workforce Commission to use the Integrity Data Hub and cross-check unemployment claims against new hires records and incarceration records (inmates are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits). 8 States can also cross-check weekly unemployment claims against the National Directory of New Hires or their own state new hires directory to identity workers who may have returned to work and failed to notify the UI program of their new employment. That’s the idea behind the Integrity Data Hub, a cloud-based program created by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, that allows states to cross-check UI claims against various data sets to identify fraudulent or ineligible claims. 7Ĭombating inaccurate, false, or fraudulent information submitted in unemployment claims is a matter of cross-checking claims information against databases that prove or disprove the information. According to their report, “Claimants were allowed to certify and did not have to provide the work search prior to payment.” This, in their opinion, contributed to pre-pandemic overpayment of benefits to ineligible claimants. Tennessee reported to federal officials in its UI Integrity Strategic Plan for 2019– 2020 that it would end the process of UI claimants self-certifying they met work search requirements. The problem of self-certification also impacts regular UI programs as well and is not a pandemic phenomenon. ![]() At a congressional hearing in early 2023, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Inspector General said that self-certification-which means the individual submitting the information never has their assertion cross-checked-made the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program highly susceptible to fraud. Verification of information is the best way to protect unemployment insurance programs from waste and fraud. Worse, fraudulent actors can use stolen identity information to submit false claims that allow them to rob the system of benefits, depleting trust funds, pulling benefits away from truly eligible claimants, and leading to higher taxes on employers. Incorrect or inaccurate information submitted by either a former employee or employer can lead to benefits being paid incorrectly. ![]() States in turn also work with employers to collect both the taxes that fund UI benefits as well as the information necessary to process benefit eligibility based on recent employment and salary. ![]() Claimants are responsible for submitting accurate identity, work history, wage, and work search information in order to have their claim processed and weekly unemployment benefits paid. 4Īt the heart of most improper payments is a failure to verify information submitted to the system. These dozens of pieces of legislation are a success story that illustrates how bold efforts in state capitols across the country can solve a problem of national magnitude. In the face of this massive problem, a dozen states have passed bipartisan legislation since 2020 implementing program integrity best practices that help state workforce agencies protect the UI program from waste and fraud. 1 The data, submitted by state workforce agencies that administer UI programs, doesn’t include the estimated $400 billion in federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits that were lost to fraud. A little more than $26 billion in state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits were improperly paid to ineligible or fraudulent claimants during the most recent three-year period covered by a U.S.
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