MONTGOMERY, Ala. – With some opposition, the Alabama House adopted a bill Tuesday that would impose stricter requirements on Alabamians receiving unemployment benefits.
House Bill 29, sponsored by Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, increases the number of employers Alabamians receiving unemployment benefits would be required to contact from three to five. Alabamians receiving unemployment benefits saw the number of employers they were required to contact a week increased from one to three in 2021.
“What we’d like to do is increase the work search requirements, this bill would require claimants to conduct five work search actions per week to be eligible for benefits,” Oliver said on the House floor. “Currently, only three searches are required in Alabama.”
The bill saw Democrat opposition on the House floor, including from Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Saraland, who questioned the necessity of making unemployment requirements more strict for Alabamians.
“Usually, if a person is receiving unemployment, it’s because that person has worked; we’re treating these people as if these are lazy people who don’t want to work,” Bracy said.
“If a person is receiving unemployment, it’s because something has happened that has broken the chain of employment that they have had, these are not people that are sitting at home that are waiting on some welfare check, these are people who want to work.”
The bill passed the House with a vote of 76-25. It now moves to the Senate.