As Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear continues to receive criticism from state Republicans over the delay in processing unemployment claims filed during COVID-19 job losses, he took time Thursday to push back and lay some of the blame at the feet of his predecessor.
Kentucky made national headlines Wednesday when hundreds of people drove to Frankfort to meet with representatives at a temporary benefits office to help resolve problems in filing their claims. At 7pm, 67 people who had stood in line for nearly 10 hours were turned away because the office was closing and the claims had to be sent to the Federal government for processing.
Beshear said 61 of those 67 people spoke with someone Thursday.
click to download audioThe governor has also repeatedly said the system is designed to automatically turn people away when a claim is filed.
click to download audioKentucky has an unemployment rate of 15.4-percent and as of Monday, over 52,000 jobless claims had yet to be processed. The governor pointed to the closure of 29 regional unemployment offices by former Governor Matt Bevin in 2017 along with the COVID-19 pandemic as contributing factors.
click to download audioWhen the offices were closed, former Workforce Cabinet Secretary Hal Heiner said a federal funding source that helped hire workers under the Steve Beshear administration was no longer available and pointed to a record level of low unemployment in the state at the time.
The governor said he is going to send employees to some of the closed offices in the coming weeks to help people who can’t or won’t travel to Frankfort to meet with someone in person about their claim.
click to download audioBeshear also signed a proclamation honoring Juneteenth and will ask the general assembly to make it a permanent state holiday. Juneteenth is an unofficial American holiday celebrated annually on June 19th to commemorate the Union’s reading of federal orders in Galveston, Texas proclaiming all slaves in Texas to be free.
Kentucky first recognized Juneteenth in 2005 as “Juneteenth National Freedom Day,” but it is not celebrated statewide.
The governor also reported 234 new COVID-19 cases in the state Thursday, saying the number still remains in a manageable area. He added the state’s re-opening remains on track, but says the state is in a “very fragile place.”
Beshear said three additional people died as a result of the coronavirus and a 95-year-old woman from Grayson County was removed from the fatality count because she had tested positive for COVID-19 but had recovered at the time she died. The adjusted mortality count for the state stands at 520.
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Beshear Says COVID-19, Bevin Deserve Some Blame in Jobless Claim Problem - wkdzradio.com
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