Cindy Gonzalez
LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers are considering a legislative proposal that would put the state in sync with nearly all, if not all, other states in allowing access to unemployment insurance benefits to immigrants who have permission to work in the U.S. but who lack permanent residency.
The state’s current prohibition on the benefits applies to certain authorized immigrant workers despite the fact their employers pay unemployment insurance taxes on their behalf.
So-called “Dreamers,” who grew up in the U.S. after being brought here illegally as minors by their parents, are a primary population excluded from such benefits.
Nebraska Dreamers, legally in the U.S. as recipients of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, were among the 10 people in the majority that testified Monday in support of Legislative Bill 299 at the Nebraska Capitol.
Bipartisan support
LB 299, the topic of a public hearing before the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee, has bipartisan sponsorship. It was introduced by State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner, a Republican, and by State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha, a Democrat.
We’re talking about Nebraska’s workforce shortage, and these individuals have been essential to filling in that workforce shortage and are in compliance with the federal laws.
– State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln
Zayra Navarrete, who has had DACA status since 2013 and works as a financial advisor in Hastings, told the committee she contributes to a pension, life insurance and unemployment benefits. She said she lives in fear that if unforeseen circumstances led to a job loss, she would not have the same lifeline as co-workers.
“I am constantly preparing alternatives for an emergency crisis,” Navarrete said, figuring out backup strategies that include taking out loans or selling personal assets.
She said the question of unemployment benefits for workers in her situation came to the forefront during COVID-19 — when some workers who were laid-off were not provided the same help to get by during the crescendo of the pandemic.
Said Navarrete: “Why is a state that is benefiting over $14 million in state and local taxes from DACA recipients not allowing us to access those funds?”
The National Immigration Law Center did not have a current comprehensive inventory of states with policies akin to LB 299. But Tanya Broder, senior counsel, said that most, if not all states, offer unemployment insurance benefits to immigrants in similar situations.
Nick Grandgenett, an attorney with Nebraska Appleseed, said the proposed legislation would benefit DACA recipients as well as asylum-seekers who have been granted work authorization while their requests are reviewed and others with Temporary Protected Status that is granted when returning to a person’s home country is unsafe due to natural disaster, extraordinary conditions or war.
Labor Department objects
The only person to testify in opposition to LB 299 on Monday was interim Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber, who noted that the measure essentially creates a new state definition for “eligible alien.”
She said that more than $400 million in tax credits is at stake.
For Nebraska to receive federal funds to help administer its unemployment program, the state must meet certain federal conformity requirements, Thurber said.
She said Nebraska has been given an advanced warning by the U.S. Department of Labor that, as drafted, LB 299 likely creates a conformity issue. She said her understanding is that the language is too broad, allowing benefits even if the immigrant lost legal authorization to work in the U.S.
Maintaining conformity under LB 299, she said, “becomes particularly concerning” given the uncertain future of DACA, depending on the results of an ongoing court battle.
Thurber’s objections prompted a firm challenge from committee member State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln.
“You know, Nebraska does have a conformity issue — a nonconformity issue,” Raybould said. “We were the very last state in the entire United States to allow our DACA qualified people to have a driver’s license. … We were the last state in the entire union to recognize the degrees they have achieved through their hard work at our own universities.”
Raybould said it is her understanding that Nebraska is the only state that does not allow DACA and certain other authorized immigrant workers access to unemployment benefits that their employers contribute to.
Thurber said she was not saying there aren’t “ways around” the nonconformity language, and noted that the Labor Department worked with State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha on similar 2021 legislation that was never enacted.
She said, however, that as currently drafted, LB 299 could cost Nebraska employers more than $400 million in federal tax credits unless conformity questions are resolved.
Business support
Backing the proposed legislation Monday were groups such as the Nebraska Alliance for Thriving Communities and business organizations including the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Omaha and Lincoln Chambers of Commerce.
“We’re talking about Nebraska’s workforce shortage, and these individuals have been essential to filling in that workforce shortage and are in compliance with the federal laws,” said Raybould. “I find it really hard to believe that we in the state of Nebraska can not get it right like all the other 49 states have done to make sure we are in conformity … What are we doing wrong?”
Thurber, at the end of the back-and-forth, said she has offered assistance to Ibach to address the conformity issue.
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth, chair of the Business and Labor Committee, said 46 people wrote in support of the proposed legislation and eight were opposed.
The committee took no action on whether to advance the bill to debate by the full Legislature.