GDOL says unemployment trust fund is not solvent; agency outlines options including assessments and waiting week

Commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes told the committee the Georgia unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund is not currently solvent and outlined several statutory and policy options lawmakers could consider to strengthen reserves. "The U.S. Department of Labor says that solvency is $3,480,000,000," Holmes said during testimony.

Holmes described several approaches that could help restore solvency: preserving or extending an administrative assessment that directs roughly $20 million into the UI trust fund rather than the state treasury (the assessment is set to sunset at year-end unless extended); appropriating state funds to accelerate solvency (other states have used direct appropriations); instituting a waiting week before benefits begin (Holmes said 42 states require a one-week waiting period); and adjusting Georgia's taxable wage base (Holmes said Georgia's taxable wage base is $9,500, one of the lowest in the region).

Holmes told legislators the department is prepared to discuss more detailed proposals offline. During the hearing she stated the trust fund was "not solvent" and described the trade-offs involved in potential changes to administration and tax policy. The committee did not vote on policy changes at the briefing; Holmes said she would speak further with members outside the hearing room.

Note on transcript numeric inconsistency: Holmes also spoke of a shortfall in a manner that appears to be garbled in the record; that specific shortfall figure as read in the transcript was not clear and should be verified against GDOL budget documents or written testimony before publication.