Walker to sign bill granting unemployment benefit extension

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MADISON - Governor Scott Walker will sign the bill today that gives up to 13 more weeks of jobless benefits to Wisconsin’s long-term unemployed.

A late afternoon ceremony is planned at the State Capitol. Once the bill is signed, it will take about 3-to-4 days to start processing retro-active claims for the new jobless benefits. They’ll be given to up to 40,000 Wisconsinites who’ve exhausted their 73 weeks of regular and emergency benefits. The Senate voted on Monday to free up $89-million federal stimulus dollars to provide the added benefits.

The bill also restores a one-week waiting period for the newly-unemployed to receive benefits once they apply. Senators removed the waiting period last month, but the Assembly put it back – and majority Senate Republicans said they would have held up the extended benefits had they not gone along with the waiting period this week.

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