Blue state Democrats propose handing out unemployment benefits to workers on strike

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Giving unemployment benefits to strikers causes ‘fairness problem’: policy expert

CalChamber Policy Advocate Rob Moutrie said he is opposed to an upcoming piece of legislation that would provide California workers on strike with unemployment benefits.

A group of California Democrats are expected to propose handing out unemployment benefits to striking workers.

Language expected to be released in the coming days or weeks to provide striking workers with benefits from California's unemployment insurance program that is $18 billion in debt. The move comes amid historic strikes by both screenwriters and actors, forcing many movies and TV shows to halt production.

"It would allow individuals on strike who are not looking for work and were not let go through no fault of their own to claim unemployment insurance as if they were truly unemployed," California Chamber of Commerce Policy Advocate Rob Moutrie, who opposes the legislation, told Fox News.

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"Striking people are not the same as people who truly have been let go and have no idea where their next paycheck will come from," Moutrie added. "But someone on strike knows where their job is."

Moutrie says labor advocates are capitalizing on the strike to push this policy proposal that they hoped to push through for years.

"A lot of politicians around that area feel that strike particularly powerfully and feel compelled to either support or speak about that strike," he said. "So, that really creates a political pressure that's different than other times."

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The ongoing writers' strike has disrupted television shows and movie production for months. (Mario Tama / Getty Images / File)

Former state Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez introduced similar legislation in 2019 when the unemployment insurance program had a surplus, but it failed to become law.

"The last thing California needs is more ways of paying for people not to work."

"The last thing California needs is more ways of paying for people not to work," U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley told Fox News. "Our state currently has the second-highest unemployment in the nation and is last in the country in wage growth."

The California Republican added that his home state "so badly bungled the management of its unemployment system" that it took out a nearly $20 billion loan from the federal government and then defaulted on it. Billions of fraudulent unemployment claims were paid out in the Golden State during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to California officials.

Rep. Kevin Kiley said he does not support a plan to pay unemployment benefits to workers on strike. (Scott Strazzante / Pool / Getty Images / File)

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The unemployment legislation is expected to be introduced by Senate Appropriations Chair Anthony Portantino and co-authored by Democrat Assembly members Laura Friedman and Chris Holden, reported Politico. 

Portantino, a Democrat, tweeted his support for the anticipated bill, saying he was "[h]onored to be authoring this effort to help hardworking Californians during a time of unrest."

If the legislation becomes law, businesses will likely be forced to fund the strikers, according to Moutrie.

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"Employers pay per-employee taxes to fill the unemployment insurance fund and to provide those benefits when they're claimed," Moutrie said. "So, this piece of legislation, which would take money from the unemployment insurance fund and give it to people on strike, really amounts to an indirect tax on every employer in California going to those people on strike."

CalChamber Policy Advocate Rob Moutrie told Fox News that unemployment benefits for workers on strike will fall on California businesses. (Fox News Digital)

Moutrie said the legislation is a "fundamental fairness problem" for employers who don't have or have never had employees on strike.

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Friedman’s office declined to comment. Portantino and Holden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.