Governor of California rejects bill to provide unemployment benefits to striking employees

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have given strikers unemployment checks. The bill was inspired by high-profile Hollywood and hotel work stoppages.

Democrat Newsom says he supports workers and receives union campaign contributions. He said he vetoed this bill because the state's unemployment fund will be nearly $20 billion in debt by year's end.

“Now is not the time to increase costs or incur this sizable debt,” Newsom vetoed.

The state's unemployment fund is over $18 billion in debt. The fund ran out of money and had to borrow from the federal government during the pandemic, when Newsom closed most businesses and caused massive unemployment. Massive fraud cost the state billions in the fund.

The bill would have allowed state-paid unemployment checks of up to $450 per week for strikers for at least two weeks. Workers who lost their jobs without fault are usually eligible for those benefits.

Labor unions claimed that the state's unemployment trust fund would not have been affected by the small number of workers on strike for more than two weeks. Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino, the bill's author, said only two of California's 56 strikes in the past decade lasted more than two weeks.

Beyond the debt, the Newsom administration claims the fund is not collecting enough money to pay all benefits. Businesses pay a tax on each employee. However, that tax only applies to the first $7,000 of workers' wages, the lowest federally allowed amount since 1984.