Maura Healey, governor of Massachusetts, speaks at Roxbury Community College in Boston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"We were dismayed to uncover early on in our term that the previous administration misspent billions of dollars in federal relief funds and that our state was facing what could have been a more than $3 billion tab to pay it back," Healey said in a statement on Monday.
"For the past year and a half, we have engaged in extensive negotiations with the U.S. Department of Labor to minimize the impact on Massachusetts residents, businesses and our economy," she continued. "Today, we have reduced our potential liability by over $1 billion and negotiated a decade-long payment window to mitigate the impact."
The governor added that it is "incredibly frustrating that the prior administration allowed this to happen" but that the current administration is "going to use this as a moment to come together with the business and labor community to make meaningful reforms to the Unemployment Insurance system."
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey takes questions from reporters, Jan. 31, 2024, during a news conference in Boston. (Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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The governor vowed to pursue changes to soften the burden on employers, who already face higher costs to support an uptick of claims during the pandemic, according to the State House News Service.
Healey directed state Labor Secretary Lauren Jones and Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz to "conduct a comprehensive review of the solvency of UI and assess potential reforms."
The Healey administration projected the UI Trust Fund would be hundreds of millions of dollars in debt by the end of 2028, even before taking into account the $2.1 billion in additional payments.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/massachusetts-must-pay-feds-2-1b-after-mistakenly-using-pandemic-funds-cover-unemployment-benefits