Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled a plan Tuesday that would preserve Connecticut’s debt-riddled unemployment trust fund by curbing benefits for workers and asking more from the business community as a whole. Connecticut, like nearly all states, has run up hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to maintain unemployment benefits since the pandemic began in early March 2020. The state has borrowed roughly $700 million from the federal unemployment trust to date, and the projections hold that Connecticut’s debt may exceed $1 billion before the majority of its population has been vaccinated. Full details of the plan, which needs legislative approval and will go before the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee later this week, were not available late Tuesday. The agreement won the backing of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and the state chapter of the AFL-CIO, and the Connecticut State Building and Construction Trades Council.
https://www.theday.com/statenortheast-news/20210420/lamont-unveils-bipartisan-deal-to-pay-off-huge-unemployment-trust-debt