Stimulus grant for Calif jobless system questioned

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_13889483

By JUDY LIN Associated Press Writer
Posted: 11/29/2009 08:09:20 AM PST
Updated: 11/29/2009 08:09:21 AM PST

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California has received $60 million from the federal stimulus package to upgrade its 23-year-old unemployment benefits system even though previous federal funding to improve the same system has not been fully spent.

The state handles about 13 percent of the nation's unemployment claims but processes benefits on a computer system built during the 1980s based on 1970s technology. The state should have completed an upgrade last year using federal unemployment money it received seven years ago, with the new system already in operation.

The original cash infusion was roughly the same amount as the stimulus money California received this year to upgrade its benefits system.

According to the most recent report from the state's information technology office, the project that was intended to improve the state's so-called Single Client Database will not be completed until 2014, six years behind schedule.

Despite the lag, the U.S. Department of Labor has found no fault in how California used the previous allocation because the program was designed to give states flexibility. They could use the money as they saw fit.

The federal government has no plans to sanction or fine California for not completing the original technology upgrade. The Labor Department said it was more concerned that new stimulus funding is used in a way that will allow more workers to qualify for unemployment assistance.

"We want states to use unemployment modernization funding to provide unemployment compensation to a broader group of workers," Jane Oates, the Labor Department's assistant secretary for employment and training, said in a statement.

FULL story at link.