California’s agenda this week was cutbacks, with announcements of a possible end to unemployment benefits and money-saving efforts in prisons.
On Thursday CBS 5 reported on California prisons closing their doors to visitors June 26-27 in an effort to save the state $400,000 in overtime costs. Lawyers and family members of terminally ill or juvenile inmates are the only exception, and will be allowed to visit. Some exercise yards will also temporarily be closed to save money by having fewer guards on staff to oversee inmates.
The San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday reported on the possible end of unemployment benefits in California. Unless Congress extends federal benefits, hundreds of thousands of the unemployed might be hung out to dry, with an end to unemployment checks.
Californians who run the risk of losing benefits immediately are those who are at or nearing the end of either their 26 weeks of regular state benefits, or one of four federal extensions. Before federal funding ran out, people who used up their initial regular benefits and still qualified for unemployment could go through four rounds of extended state benefits. The first was 20 weeks, the second 14, the third 13 and the fourth up to six. When they exhausted the fourth round of benefits, they could proceed to another round of benefits called Fed-Ed, which lasted up to 20 weeks.
So, if a person played her or his cards right, benefits could have reached 99 weeks of unemployment payments.
