Gov. Little relaxes requirements for unemployment benefits
Thomas Plank | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 9 months AGO
BOISE — Gov. Brad Little is waiving the weeklong waiting period for unemployment benefits, and moving millions of dollars to an emergency fund to bolster Idaho's fight against the novel coronavirus, he announced at a Friday press conference.
More than 13,000 Idahoans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a 1,200% jump over the week before. That trend is expected to continue in the weeks ahead, especially in light of the statewide 21-day stay-at-home order Little issued Wednesday.
Little is also changing requirements that people be looking for work while they receive unemployment benefits. If a person is quarantined at government direction, they will be considered to have met the requirements needed to apply for unemployment, according to an executive order Little signed Friday.
In addition, Little moved $39.3 million from the tax relief fund to an emergency fund that can be used to purchase necessary items, such as personal protective equipment for health care workers.
BUDGET CUTS
Little also ordered state agencies to hold back on spending 1% of the money allocated to them by the Legislature, with the exemption of health-related departments. That will save the state an estimated $40 million, Little said, and will help Idaho achieve a balanced budget by the end of the fiscal year in June.
Asked whether public education institutions would be included in the 1% holdback, Little said they would be. The holdback will have a projected $19 million impact on public schools, Idaho Education News reports, though state officials say the federal $2 trillion stimulus bill and a short-term reduction in education costs due to school closures should soften the blow.
EVICTIONS
Little did not commit to halting evictions during the COVID-19 crisis, as a number of other states have done in recent weeks. He instead noted larger commercial renters and landlords were eligible for low-interest loans and said the government had been working with municipal and publicly owned utilities about helping people during this time.
"The advice I'm giving is this isn't necessarily a good time to be evicting people, because there might not be anybody waiting in the wings," Little said.
HUMAN TOLL
The state reported its first three COVID-19 related deaths this week, and as the crisis continues to grow, getting those numbers to square with what’s going on in the state will be difficult.
Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said he learned of the first deaths in Blaine County on Thursday, after death certificates were certified.
“Once the death certificate is completed and filed, that is when we will be releasing that information,” he said.
The director said it takes time to confirm if a death was COVID-19 caused, and stressed that the state would keep its released information “factual.”
“We want to be really clear and as accurate as we can with that information,” Jeppesen said.
The first deaths from COVID-19 came days before Little issued his stay-home order; the governor said his decision to issue the order when he did was based on "best practices in epidemiology."
Testing for the novel coronavirus is still ramping up, with the state’s lab doing 10 times the amount of testing per day than at the beginning of the pandemic. The governor also noted the state was doing its best to make sure medical workers had enough personal protective equipment.
"Whether it's an ambulance district in rural Idaho or one of our biggest hospitals, we are coordinating all that to make sure we have enough personal protective equipment," Little said.
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Gov. Little relaxes requirements for unemployment benefits
BOISE — Gov. Brad Little is waiving the weeklong waiting period for unemployment benefits, and moving millions of dollars to an emergency fund to bolster Idaho's fight against the novel coronavirus, he announced at a Friday press conference.