WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Time ticking in deal to help unemployment benefits

Time ticking in deal to help unemployment benefits

This story from Monday has been updated! Read Tuesday's story here and Wednesday's story here.

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The standoff between South Carolina's governor and state officials continues, with only two days before the state must stop printing unemployment checks for 77,000 people.

In a WIS News 10 story that's drawn attention from all over the nation, Gov. Mark Sanford's office and the Employment Security Commission continued Tuesday to discuss ways to keep the fund that pays $14 million a week to unemployed South Carolinians from running dry.

Last month, South Carolina reported the nation's third-worst unemployment rate at 8.4 percent. Forecasters have said the jobless rate could reach an unprecedented 14 percent next year.

Sanford says he won't request a $146 million federal loan to pay unemployment benefits through March until the commission agrees to his demands that include an audit by the state's watchdog agency.

[Read Sanford's full proposal]

Sanford has some things he wants first before he signs the request, such as an independent, third-party audit to review operations and performance of the commission.

Among other things, Sanford wants to have certain things collected, like unemployment insurance data, details, such as reasons for getting unemployment and dates of employment benefits, and quarterly employment numbers and wages.

Additionally the governor wants information about companies that close, like when they shut down and where they're located.

"I cannot provide information that I don't collect and this is what's being asked," Ted Halley, executive director of the commission, said.

Specifically, Halley says his agency doesn't collect specifics about why people are out of work.

The state already has borrowed $15 million to pay benefits through the end of this year.

"We're paying out more money than we're taking in to the trust fund and you do the arithmetic," Halley said.

The main concern is the people that will suffer if the loan is not approved.

"This is the only source of income that they have. This is the difference between an individual paying rent, buying groceries making car payments buying fuel to heat their homes. This is the only source of income they have," Halley said.

"Mark Sanford has never had to think about a job or a paycheck, so he doesn't know how it feels to worry about being able to make a house payment or buy groceries. He should listen to the thousands of South Carolinians who are unemployed through no fault of their own.  They have spent the holidays wondering if their own governor is going to refuse to let them receive their unemployment compensation," said South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler. "I hope our governor doesn't continue to jeopardize the well being of more than 70,000 people to prove a point."

In a memo to Sanford, Halley agrees to some but not all the governor's requests.

Halley agrees to a performance audit to be done by the Department of Labor, but not an independent, third-party as the governor requests.

After receiving the counter-offer, the governor's office released a statement, saying:

"We are disappointed by the updated agreement. It shows that the Employment Security Commission is afraid of the scrutiny an outside audit would provide. We are insisting on an independent audit before we sign anything."

"The demands that he's making of this agency, I've agreed to meet him with those," Halley said.

The bottom line is what happens on Wednesday to the thousands who depend on unemployment checks.

When asked what happens if there is no agreement before the deadline, a governor's spokesman said, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Reported by Jasmin Guerrero and Brandi Cummings

Updated by Jeremy Turnage

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