State Rep. Warren Petryk

On Aug. 17, 1936 Wisconsin issued the nation’s first Unemployment Insurance (UI) check. It was made out to Neils Ruud for $15, which is displayed at the State Historical Society. The UI program was created to assist Wisconsinites who lost their jobs through no fault of their own while helping them find a new job. The program has evolved since then, and it was most recently used to assist people during the COVID government shutdown.

As Chairman of the Assembly Workforce Development and Economic Opportunities Committee, one of my responsibilities is to keep a close eye on how state funds are spent and to ensure transparency for the public. And there were a number of red flags during COVID that highlighted the mismanagement of the UI program under the leadership of this governor. Wisconsin, for example, was the last state to begin paying COVID-related benefits. Furthermore, from March 15, 2020 to June 30, 2020, 38.3 million of the 41.1 million total telephone calls (93.3 percent) to call centers by people trying to get information or find out where their benefits were located were blocked or received busy signals.

In addition to the governor's inability to assist people in obtaining benefits, I continue to remain concerned about the lack of emphasis placed on rooting out fraud. During the pandemic, unemployment insurance "fraud cases went through the roof," according to the Secretary Designee of the Department of Workforce Development. If the reports from the US Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General are correct, nearly $1.5 billion in Wisconsin funds could have been improperly paid.

That is why I am pleased that the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau recently launched an audit investigation regarding UI fraud. This audit will look at previous fraud prevention measures and whether they were altered. They will also assess the agencies' compliance with US Department of Labor standards and compare fraud and investigation activities to those in other states. This includes investigating why no cases of fraud were referred for prosecution to the State Attorney General's office in 2021, despite the fact that $217,000 is set aside each year to bring charges against offenders. When the audit team is finished, they will issue a public report outlining their findings and make recommendations for solutions to any problems they find.

In the meantime, the legislature will continue to pass common sense reforms to update and modernize our UI programs, including providing more resources to help people on UI transition to their next career in Wisconsin.