On the heels of news that Texas lost 47,000 more jobs last month, the Texas Senate bucked the governor with final passage of a bill accepting the $555 million in federal unemployment money that Governor Rick Perry rejected.

Senator Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, successful shepherded SB 1569 to passage with a vote of 19-11 (Harris absent) on third reading.

To review, Perry rejected it on the grounds that the federal dollars come with new requirements for the way Texas calculates unemployment by changing the window of time used to calculate funding, plus including part-time workers and "trailing spouses", (wives/husbands that leave their jobs to move with their spouses). Opponents to taking the UI money worry that new requirements would result in a higher UI tax burden on Texas employers.

Eltife, and others, say because the current UI fund will be empty by fall, the state will have to borrow from the federal government anyway to keep the fund alive.

Eltife says the net cost in terms of expanded benefits is $57 million a year, so the $555 million would feed our nearly empty UI fund for nearly a decade.

"We are drawing down $555 million and using the stimulus money for nine years," Eltife said.

"Let's not forget about the employees who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, how many of them this will help. This not only helps them, but it also lessens the burden on us," said Eltife.

The bill calls for a nine member task force that will make recommendations to the Texas Workforce Commission as to whether the revisions made with this bill should convert back to current law.

"We have put every provision possible in this bill so that when time comes, we can revert back to common law if we need to," Eltife said.

Two senators, state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and state Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, changed their votes since the second reading vote, which was 22-9.

"We got hit pretty hard over the weekend, people emailing [asking us to change our votes]," said state Sen. Bob Deuell.

Ogden amended the bill with a "No unfunded federal mandates" amendment, which clarifies that the bill doesn't make an appropriation, and that it doesn't take effect unless the state receives at least $555 million from the federal stimulus money.

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