The Bell Policy Center is urging the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee to approve HB 1327. It would create an alternative base period in order to qualify more low-income workers for unemployment insurance when they lose their job.

The committee is slated to hear the bill on Monday, Feb. 20.

The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Mike Cerbo, D-Denver. It's also the subject of a thumbs-up Opportunity Note written by Rich Jones, Bell's director of policy and research. Look for it on the Policy Watch page of Bell's web site, www.thebell.org.


HB 06 creates a five-year pilot to allow workers to use an alternative base period to qualify for unemployment insurance if they don't have enough earnings to qualify using the standard base period.

To be eligible for unemployment under the standard base period, a worker must have earned at least $2,500 in the first four of the five most recently completed quarters.
The most recently completed quarter is considered the lag quarter, and isn't counted until the next quarter.

The alternative base period system allows workers to count their earnings from the most recently completed quarter to determine eligibility.

For low-wage workers who are in and out of employment, the chance to use the lag quarter will make the difference between getting unemployment benefits immediately, when they are needed the most, instead of waiting for as long as 25 weeks.

The program will expedite unemployment benefits for an estimated 877 low-wage workers every year.