Unemployment benefits extended (new law)

Some out-of-work Minnesotans may now receive a 13-week extension of their unemployment insurance benefits, thanks to a new law.

Sponsored by Rep. Rich Murray (R-Albert Lea) and Sen. John Pederson (R-St. Cloud), the new law gives Minnesotans access to a federal extension of unemployment insurance benefits recently passed by Congress and signed by President Obama. Qualifying Minnesotans will now be eligible for a maximum of 86 weeks of benefits, under the change.

Signed March 9 by Gov. Mark Dayton, the extension is effective retroactively from

Dec. 19, 2010.

The extension is federally funded, and will not cost the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, which is $600 million in deficit. Murray said the law is expected to funnel approximately $160 million of federal funds into the state’s economy.

The law also allows individuals who are laid off from their parents’ businesses to receive normal unemployment insurance benefits. Effective retroactively from July 1, 2010, this law repeals a previous one that restricted such individuals to no more than five weeks’ worth of benefits.

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