Rep. Sharice Davids has joined the chorus of Kansans and elected officials unhappy with Gov. Laura Kelly’s handling of record unemployment claims and faulty technology at the Kansas Department of Labor.
Davids, the only Democrat in state’s congressional delegation and the highest-ranking Democrat in Kansas next to Kelly, sent a letter to the governor Wednesday calling for immediate action, funded by stimulus money, to fix the system.
“It has been nearly a year since this pandemic began and much more needs to be done to get Kansans the unemployment assistance they need right now. We need immediate action to address the problems plaguing KDOL and to get relief into the pockets of Kansans,” Davids wrote.
The letter, an unusual rebuke from Davids to a fellow Kansas Democrat, is a response to Kelly’s request last week that the federal government allocate funds to states to modernize their unemployment IT systems. It is also is a sign of the deepening political problems Kelly faces over dysfunction at KDOL.
Kelly was the only Democrat to sign a letter from GOP governors over the weekend that claimed the stimulus funding formula unfairly favored states with lower unemployment figures.
Last week, the GOP members of the delegation responded to Kelly telling her that more money was not an answer to problems in the agency.
Similar to GOP officials, Davids wrote that she’d heard from “thousands” of struggling constituents.
“Many have been unable to file their weekly claims or even speak with a KDOL representative on the phone,” Davids wrote. “To make matters worse, numerous cases of fraudulent claims have been filed under the names of innocent Kansans — taking away vital resources from our already overburdened unemployment system.”
Department of Labor officials have described the past year as a perfect storm. The department, currently on its fourth leader in a year, saw a record number of legitimate and fraudulent claims as the pandemic hit Kansas in March.
In dealing with temporary federal programs, large backlogs have formed and Kansans have said they are unable to reach the department for questions about their benefits or fraudulent claims made in their name.
The Department of Labor estimated that $290 million in fraudulent claims were paid out last year while a non-partisan legislative audit estimated the number to closer to $600 million.
The agency has been the subject of anger and frustration. A Wellington woman attempted to hold a hunger strike outside the agency’s Topeka offices last week before calling the protest off Tuesday.
The state House of Representatives is poised to debate a sweeping bill mandating modernization efforts, creating more legislative oversight and reducing some benefits Wednesday.
Kelly has repeatedly said that she and the department are doing everything they can but that the response was hamstrung by historic underfunding of the agency under the Brownback administration.
Davids acknowledged Kelly’s efforts that she said came after “neglect” from Brownback that “decimated state agencies.” But, she said the $1.6 billion, expected to be sent to Kansas if the most recent stimulus package passes the Senate, should be used to modernize the IT system, increasing security and hiring more workers to address call volume and manage “true hardship cases.”
KDOL says an additional 1,100 operators would be needed to fully handle the call volume. That isn’t realistic due to budget and technology constraints, the agency has said.
Additionally, a full overhaul of the unemployment system’s old computer systems will take two to three years at a cost of roughly $37.5 million, according to the agency. Kelly on Monday called on Congress to provide states with modernization funding.
The Star’s Bryan Lowry contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 03, 2021 2:51 PM.
