Cindy Gonzalez
LINCOLN — Nebraska is a step closer to joining other states in allowing “Dreamers” — and other immigrants who have legal permission to work in the U.S. but who lack permanent residency — access to unemployment insurance benefits.
The Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee, despite concerns raised during a previous public hearing, voted last week to advance Legislative Bill 299 on to full debate by the Legislature.
State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner, who introduced the bill along with Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha, said the U.S. Department of Labor had flagged a “technical” problem with language in the initial draft, which put federal funding at risk. She said federal and local labor officials worked to resolve the issue.
“Once that was fixed, the committee moved to advance it to the floor for debate by the entire Legislature,” Ibach said. “Nebraska is the only state that does not allow legal work authorized immigrants to collect unemployment and retirement benefits that they have paid into.”
The previous Feb. 10 public hearing on LB 299 drew testimony that was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill.
Among those who spoke were Nebraska Dreamers, immigrants who grew up in the U.S. after being brought to this country as minors by their parents and who qualified for the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Those Dreamers, under current Nebraska law, would not be able to receive unemployment benefits, despite that they work with proper authorization and that their employers are required to pay unemployment insurance taxes on their behalf.
In addition to Dreamers, others who would benefit from LB 299 are asylum-seekers who have been granted work authorization while their requests are reviewed and those with Temporary Protected Status, which is granted when returning to a person’s home country is unsafe due to natural disaster, extraordinary conditions or war.
The lone opponent who testified during the public hearing, interim Nebraska Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber, noted the now-addressed problem that had been raised by federal officials. She said more than $400 million in federal unemployment tax credits was at stake because the language was written too broadly, and reached beyond certain federal requirements.
State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln challenged that at the time, saying: “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.”
A similar bill introduced in 2021 failed to pass into law.