Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is investing $2 billion to support and modernize the unemployment insurance system. The funding expansion comes as part of the American Rescue Plan that Congress passed in March, which Brown helped write and pass to provide critical assistance for Ohioans. Brown introduced the Unemployment Insurance Technology Modernization Act with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) in February, which directs DOL to provide the technology and support necessary for Ohio to update its program and make it easier for Ohioans to access the unemployment benefits they are entitled to. Brown wrote to DOL Secretary Marty Walsh in March, urging the department to prioritize the funding he helped secure to overhaul unemployment insurance administration and technology, and called on the Department to use his legislation as a framework.
“It’s been far too long since the Unemployment Insurance program got the technology updates it needs, and I’m glad to see the Biden administration using Rescue Plan funding to prioritize UI modernization with parts of my legislation as a framework,” said Brown. “This is a good first step toward modernizing UI technology and I will continue working with my colleagues and Secretary Walsh to overhaul the program’s administration and technology to get state unemployment offices the support they need to ensure Ohioans can access this earned benefit quickly and efficiently.”
Funding from the ARPA will enable the department to tackle the most acute problems facing the unemployment insurance system in the short-term while also working to address long-term challenges by improving state processes and building a modern, modular information technology system that is accessible, safe and more resilient in the face of future surges in claims.
The department’s additional strategies in its approach to improving the UI system include:
- Direct technical assistance through tiger teams. Multi-disciplinary tiger teams, composed of experts across many disciplines including fraud specialists, equity and customer service experience specialists, UI program specialists, behavioral insights specialists, business intelligence analysts, computer systems engineers/architects and project managers, will deploy to states to conduct intensive discovery assessments, provide resources for identification verification and propose solutions to address fraud and equitable access.
- Tools to address immediate fraud concerns. Identity verification is a critical tool in paying unemployment benefits to eligible individuals. Yet too few states have the resources, expertise, and capacity needed to effectively work with vendors to address the wide-ranging attacks that the UI system has experienced from organized criminal enterprises. The department issued a blanket purchase agreement to work with three vendors to employ cross-matching technology to verify applicants’ identities at the time of filing for unemployment programs and tools to identify suspicious attributes after claims are filed. LexisNexis, TransUnion and V3Gate partnering with ID.Me are all compliant with the National Institute of Standards’ Identity Assurance Level 2 and Authenticator Assurance Level 2, and these vendors will work with states to develop identification verification options that do not require computer access, offer customer service in claimants’ native languages and provide accessibility standards to serve the disability community.
- Modernizing antiquated state technology. The pandemic has only underscored states’ desperate need for technological support and improvements. Many state systems are operating on outdated technology, which made it difficult for them to rapidly respond to changes in law and economic conditions. The department has partnered with the U.S. Digital Service to start the transformative project of centrally developing open, modular technology solutions that states may adopt as part of ongoing modernization and improvement efforts. Additional plans included shared IT solutions designed to integrate with state systems and provide software to support end-to-end administration of UI, including benefit delivery, employer tools and appeals and working with states’ IT staff to develop and implement plans that build resilience in UI systems across the country.
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