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Governor taps federal cash to boost unemployment fund

unemployment
Posted at 6:55 PM, Jul 12, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-12 21:55:39-04

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has tapped into a pot of emergency federal cash to refill the state unemployment insurance trust fund.

The governor on Monday deposited $759 million from the $4.8 billion Arizona received from the Biden Administration's American Rescue Plan into the trust fund.

The move brings the fund above the level it was before the pandemic hit in March 2020 and soaring unemployment nearly erased the fund's balance.

Ducey's action is designed to prevent insurance premiums paid by businesses from soaring. And it came on the same week that an extra $300 per week in pay for unemployed workers will stop under a Ducey order designed to force people to return to work.