Fiscal year 2008 state unemployment administration funding guidance

UIPL7-08acc.pdf (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/UIPL/2008/UIPL7-08acc.pdf)

                                                            CLASSIFICATION
      EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION                Unemployment Insurance
                  ADVISORY SYSTEM                           CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL
            U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR                       OWS/DFAS
                Washington, D.C. 20210                      DATE
                                                            January 17, 2008

ADVISORY:          UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO. 7-08

TO:                STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

FROM:              DOUGLAS F. SMALL /s/
                   Deputy Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT:           Guidelines for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 State Agency Unemployment Insurance
                   (UI) Resource Allocations, Supplemental Budget Requests (SBRs), and
                   Above-Base Funding

1. Purpose. To provide the following information for FY 2008: UI State Administration base
   resource allocations, general guidelines for resource planning, above-base funding, and
   SBRs.

2. References. ET Handbook No. 336, 18th Edition, Unemployment Insurance State Quality
   Service Plan (SQSP), Planning and Reporting Guidelines; Unemployment Insurance
   Program Letter (UIPL) No. 24-07, Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 State Agency Unemployment
   Insurance Resource Planning Targets and Guidelines; and UIPL No. 20-07, Call Memo for
   the Fiscal Year 2008 Unemployment Insurance State Quality Service Plan.

3. Appropriation. The FY 2008 Omnibus spending bill that included the appropriation for State
   UI operations (Public Law 110-161) was enacted on December 26, 2007. The table below
   shows the amounts of the President’s Budget request, the appropriation, and the difference.

                                Budget Request             Appropriation            Difference
State Administration             $2,550,723,000            $2,454,134,000          -$96,589,000
National Activities                  10,500,000                 9,727,000               -773,000
Total                            $2,561,223,000            $2,463,861,000          -$97,362,000

4. Final Base Allocations. The final FY 2008 base allocations are identical to the planning
   targets. In order to provide as much stability as possible for state operations, the reductions
   will be applied entirely to above-base funding.




   RESCISSIONS                                            EXPIRATION DATE
None                                                      January 17, 2009


5. Above-Base Workloads. The National Office currently projects a funding shortfall in above-
   base funds in the amount of $79,727,000 due to the following:

   a. Average Weekly Insured Unemployment (AWIU). As initially constructed, the
      appropriation supported an AWIU of 2.525 million. With current economic assumptions
      projecting an AWIU of 2.697 million, the resulting shortfall would have been
      $49,334,000.

   b. Across-the-Board Reduction. The enacted appropriation added an across-the-board cut
      of 1.747 percent, resulting in a further reduction of $43,636,000.

   c. Above-Base Reimbursement Rate. In order to mitigate the shortfall, $13,243,000 from
      base reserves, which had been intended for targeted initiatives, will be diverted to above
      base workload; however, available funding will necessitate reducing above-base
      entitlements by 68 percent, reimbursing 32 cents on the dollar. Should actual workloads
      change substantially from the current estimates, the above-base reimbursement rate will
      be adjusted, up or down, to reflect more recent actual workloads experienced.

6. Other Above-Base Funding Information.

   a. Contingency Reserve. The appropriation provides for an apportionment of contingency
      reserve funds should the AWIU level exceed 2.786 million. A total of $28.6 million will
      be made available for each increment of 100,000 (including a pro rata amount for any
      increment less than 100,000) in the AWIU above the 2.786 million level. However, any
      AWIU falling between the 2.697 million that is currently projected and the 2.786 million
      AWIU contingency reserve trigger will require the Department to reduce the above-base
      reimbursement rate even further.

   b. Support. The above-base overhead percentage remains at 19 percent. Although Trade
      Adjustment Assistance (TAA) administration is not an above-base function, its overhead
      percentage is also 19 percent.

   c. Trade Redeterminations. Currently, there are no court decisions regarding the TAA
      program that would require the states to make monetary redeterminations. If one occurs,
      states should follow the UI-3 reporting instructions in ET Handbook No. 336, 18th
      Edition.

   d. Postage. Above-base funding for postage will be issued to states on a quarterly basis
      using the above base weeks claimed reported on the UI-3 reports. For any quarter,
      above-base weeks claimed will be those in excess of 25 percent of the FY 2008 base
      weeks claimed issued in the planning targets. The payment rate will be 21.5 cents per
      week claimed.


7. Supplemental Budget Requests (SBRs). The SQSP Handbook contains SBR instructions and
   procedures that remain in place each year unless states are instructed otherwise. States may
   submit a Standard Form (SF) 424 for additional funds for certain types of administrative
   costs (listed below) that are not funded within the states' base and above-base grants.

   a. Special Projects. States that received Reemployment and Eligibility Assessments (REA)
      grants in FY 2007 may receive funds to continue those initiatives at the lesser of the
      amount requested in their FY 2008 proposal or the funding level provided in FY 2007.
      Proposals to expand REA initiatives to additional states were solicited; however, funding
      for these initiatives was not included in the appropriation and, therefore, cannot be
      awarded. In addition, no funds are available for information technology security
      improvements this year.

   b. UI Performs Travel. Travel dollars are available for Benefit Accuracy Measurement Peer
      Reviews, Benefits Timeliness and Quality Nonmonetary Determinations Tripartite
      Reviews, Appeals Reviews, and Tax Performance System Integrity Reviews. States
      should provide travel estimates and reimbursement requests to the regional office rather
      than submitting an SF 424 for these travel dollars.

8. State Flexibility. States have full authority to shift UI resources among program categories,
   as deemed appropriate and necessary, to manage and operate their UI programs to meet
   established goals and requirements. The only caveat is that states must use the annual
   allocated staff year level for claims activities for above-base reporting purposes. This
   ensures that states do not earn more above-base resources than they otherwise would have
   been entitled to earn.

9. Action Required. State Administrators are requested to provide copies of this information to
   the appropriate staff.

10. Inquiries. Questions should be addressed to the appropriate regional office.