Natural State News

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has signed House Bill 1765, which will allow modifying unemployment insurance programs to prevent, detect and recover unemployment insurance fraud.

Hutchinson signed the bill April 14.

Hutchinson himself was among the many victims of unemployment fraud, KATV reports. The bill, which is now Act 667, will help the state decrease the amount of unemployment fraud. It will expand the government’s ability to recover fraudulently acquired benefits, requires unemployment recipients to be cross-referenced with lists of incarcerated individuals and increases the use of the integrity data hub to prevent and detect fraud.

The act states that “by July 1, 2021, the director of the Division of Workforce Services shall adopt and implement internal administrative policies and business processes: to pursue recovery of improper overpayments of unemployment,” and “allow an employer to notify the Division of Workforce Services that an individual has refused an offer of suitable work, which shall be reviewed by the director or his or her designee for a determination as to continued eligibility for benefits.”

Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston has previously reported that there have been 27,000 unemployment claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic situation and 10,000 unemployment insurance claims are on hold and reviewed by the state for possible fraud.

The U.S. Department of Labor inspector general's office estimates that the government has improperly distributed more than $63 billion through fraud or errors since March 2020, KATV reports.

According to a study published in the University of Chicago Press Journals, the states that cut down the amount of unemployment benefits recipients accounted for as much as 75% of increased job growth.