The Iowa House and Senate are close to passing a priority of Governor Kim Reynolds by cutting unemployment benefits.

Two different bills passed out of each chamber last week, which would reduce the maximum unemployment period from 26 weeks to 16 weeks, and would force those receiving benefits to take a lower paying job as soon as one week into benefits or risk losing them. That scales to 90% of their previous salary after seven days, 80% after four to five weeks, 70% from six to eight, and 60% for the rest of their benefits, which would then end at four months as opposed to half of a year in the current system.

State Senator Ken Rozenboom says the goal of the majority party was to find a way to move workers back into employment sooner, especially with thousands of job openings and a need for labor force in nearly every sector of the state’s economy.

“A few years ago, we also changed the unemployment structure to some degree, and part of that was driven by the need to create a level playing field for our employers relative to surrounding states,” he says. “Recently, of course, coming out of the pandemic and the recent economic activity we are seeing around the state and the country, we have tens of thousands of unfilled job openings, and we simply believe 26 weeks of unemployment benefits can be paired down to 16 weeks because there are simply so many job opportunities out there.”

Opponents have argued that no Iowan should have their benefits cut, especially since unemployment only comes into play if that employee lost their job through no fault of their own.

The Iowa House and Senate versions are different in that no waiting period remains in place with the House version, whereas Senate Republicans have pushed to add a week waiting period to benefits.