Leaders aim to fix benefits

State lawmakers scrambled Friday to figure out if they could fix an oversight that has cost thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians extended unemployment benefits.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell said they support fixing the problem, which could involve calling a special session of the General Assembly, and deployed their staffs to determine the cheapest, easiest way to make the necessary changes to the law.

"It's an open-ended question at this point," said McConnell, who expects his staff will come up with an answer early next week.

Calling a special session, by McConnell's estimate, would cost about

$17,000 but could bring the state tens of millions of dollars in federal money for unemployed residents.

Meanwhile, federal policy experts indicated that, if the proper changes are made, some residents who missed out on earlier benefits could start receiving weekly paychecks again.

The Post and Courier reported Friday that thousands of South Carolinians who have run out of jobless benefits could have continued receiving them if lawmakers had changed the measure they use to trigger emergency unemployment benefits.

Because of the state's high unemployment rate, out-of-work residents could have gotten 20 weeks of additional benefits through the $787 billion federal stimulus package. Some had been receiving an additional 13 weeks of emergency benefits, and now none are available after a statewide unemployment index fell below a certain rate.

Officials at the state Employment Security Commission acknowledged they knew about the legislative changes required to get the federal money but did not pass the information on to key lawmakers. An advocacy group that pushed the changes found that many state lawmakers were distracted by the stimulus debate and other issues.

For Ravenel resident Judith Crane, the lack of action at the state level will push her to the edge of her financial limits starting next week.

Crane, who lost her sales job last year, is one of 6,900 residents statewide who is drawing paychecks through the state's emergency benefits program, which issues its last check today.

Had state lawmakers enacted the change, she would have been eligible for about three more months of paychecks while she continues her exhaustive job search.

"I've never seen a job market like this before," she said. "I'm 62, and I've been working since I was 19. It's ridiculous."

The error, discovered by staffers in Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt Jr.'s office, prompted discussions over how to fix the problem. State Sen. Robert Ford and state Rep. Wendell Gaillard, both D-Charleston, told their staffers to begin drafting a bill.

Ford, who is running for governor, said state lawmakers would be "negligent" if they didn't fix the issue immediately.

It's still unclear how many South Carolinians would be able to receive additional paychecks following the change. So far this year, roughly 113,000 unemployed residents have run out of their state benefits before finding a job.

Meanwhile, it became clear that at least one representative pushed the issue unsuccessfully on his colleagues.

Kenny Bingham, R-Columbia, heard about the issue in early April from Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who had met with staffers from the nonprofit Appleseed Legal Justice Center. He began researching the issue and working with staffers on the measure's exact wording.

"It was a no-brainer," he said.

But by the time the proposal was finished, it was too late to propose a standalone bill. Instead, Bingham added it as an amendment to a controversial bill that reformed the state's Employment Security Commission.

That legislation was sent back to committee.

Political blame was cast throughout the day, while candidates in the governor's race seized on the issue.

State Democratic Party Executive Director Jay Parmley accused Republican leadership of being "so busy engaged in an intraparty fight with Governor Mark Sanford over power and political ideology that they've forgotten about the thousands of South Carolinians that remain unemployed due to their disastrous policies over the last seven years," according to a statement.

Gubernatorial hopeful Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, a Republican, encouraged state lawmakers to hold a special session to amend the extended benefits statute, saying state leaders should later "sort out why the people's government failed them so horribly."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dwight Drake issued a statement and called on Sanford and legislators to correct the problem. He added that state lawmakers should forgo legislative pay "because you shouldn't be paid for not doing your job."

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox said the governor was looking forward to discussing reforms of the employment commission at a previously scheduled forum Tuesday, but he declined to say whether Sanford would call a special session.

The state constitution allows the governor to call legislators back. McConnell and Harrell, both R-Charleston, also have that power.

The idea of reconvening lawmakers for a special session triggered rumblings that the session could be used to impeach Sanford, who left the country in June to see his mistress in Argentina without informing his staff. Some have questioned the legitimacy of his travel expenses.

McConnell said such discussions might not be permitted under the state's adjournment rule.

"This shouldn't get bogged down in impeachment debate," he said. "This is a totally separate issue, and it should be dealt with on that basis."

Reach Katy Stech at kstech@postandcourier.com or 937-5549.