portland press herald says 'LePage was the only governor in the country to grant himself the power to suspend state laws and regulations as a strategy to deal with the partial shutdown of the federal government. The governor has said that the emergency was declared to help federally-funded state workers laid off during the shutdown obtain unemployment benefits.' - By Kevin Miller kmiller@pressherald.com
Washington Bureau Chief + Steve Mistler smistler@pressherald.com staff writer
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hmmm according to upi washington state state workers were able to get unemployment without declaring emergency.....
'The federal government shutdown forced Washington's[washington state] Employment Security Department to furlough hundreds of state workers last week, The Seattle Times reported.
In a twist, the laid-off workers must file for unemployment benefits from the same agency that temporarily laid them off.
Besides the 418 furloughed state employees, hours were reduced for 450 employees because of the federal shutdown, Employment Security spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison said.
The agency, which gets 87 percent of its funding from the federal government, is using state dollars to pay the staff needed to keep processing unemployment claims, she said.
"We figure we can keep going with the state funds for a few weeks. If we go on for a month, we'll have to re-examine that," Hutchison said.
Adding insult to injury, the state workers likely won't receive back pay.
"Under the state constitution there's a limitation of the gifting of funds for work that was not performed," Hutchison said. "So our ability to reimburse state employees retroactively is in question."' - upi
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Acadia__federal_offices_in_Maine_reopen_.html?pagenum=2
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/10/13/The-Issue-Federal-government-shutdown-cascades-down-to-states/UPI-92101381615474/#ixzz2i4xZJPFd
In a twist, the laid-off workers must file for unemployment benefits from the same agency that temporarily laid them off.
Besides the 418 furloughed state employees, hours were reduced for 450 employees because of the federal shutdown, Employment Security spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison said.
The agency, which gets 87 percent of its funding from the federal government, is using state dollars to pay the staff needed to keep processing unemployment claims, she said.
"We figure we can keep going with the state funds for a few weeks. If we go on for a month, we'll have to re-examine that," Hutchison said.
Adding insult to injury, the state workers likely won't receive back pay.
"Under the state constitution there's a limitation of the gifting of funds for work that was not performed," Hutchison said. "So our ability to reimburse state employees retroactively is in question."' - upi
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Acadia__federal_offices_in_Maine_reopen_.html?pagenum=2
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/10/13/The-Issue-Federal-government-shutdown-cascades-down-to-states/UPI-92101381615474/#ixzz2i4xZJPFd
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