By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Senate approved a bill Monday to tie the maximum number of weeks of unemployment benefits to the monthly unemployment rate.
Senate Bill 59 passed 27-5 Monday morning would require work search activities to qualify for unemployment benefits. No votes included Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Sens. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, David Stover, R-Wyoming, and Glenn Jeffries, R-Putnam.
The bill now heads to the House of Delegates.
SB 59 would index the maximum number of weeks of unemployment benefits to the state’s monthly seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. The bill would decrease the maximum number of weeks of unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 12 weeks if the state seasonally adjusted unemployment rate drops to 5.5% or below…