The proposal, introduced just before the congressional recess, would also expand jobless insurance to more workers by encouraging states to count a jobless worker\'s most-recent earnings when computing benefits and eligibility for aid.

"Too many working families are just one pink slip away from falling into poverty. While our unemployment insurance program has always been a bedrock of security for working families in troubling times, the system has not kept pace with our changing economy," said the measure\'s lead sponsor, Senate Labor Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

"It leaves many workers--especially low-wage workers--out in the cold, unable to collect benefits. Our bill would encourage states to update their unemployment insurance systems to address the new challenges facing workers. It would help long-term unemployed workers get the training they need to find new jobs. And it would give states resources and flexibility they need to revitalize their programs and better serve working families."

One recent revision of the jobless program was creating "one-stop centers" for workers to register for benefits, be interviewed and research retraining programs and other aid, during the Clinton administration. The Bush regime has lobbied unsuccessfully for jobless benefits to be "block grants" to states. Key features of the new proposal include:

* $7 billion in incentive payments to states that update their unemployment insurance systems. Money would go to states that remove barriers to covering low-wage and part-time workers--many of them women--that ensure a more "family-friendly" jobless system and that help dislocated workers, who face long-term joblessness because their plants closed for good, increase their skills.The money is from the unemployment insurance trust fund and by extending an existing FUTA surtax.

* States that updated their wage bases for the jobless would be eligible for one-third of the $7 billion. Right now, states use wage data that is up to six months old, or older, to rule if a jobless worker is eligible for benefits. They look at the worker\'s earnings starting not with the most recent three months, but with the three months before that. The bill would give incentives to states that "adopt an \'alternative base period\' allowing workers to meet eligibility requirements by counting their most recent wages."

* Providing benefits to workers who voluntarily left their jobs if an immediate family member became ill or disabled, because a spouse relocated to a new job, or due to domestic violence. Benefits would also increase $15 per week for each of a worker\'s dependents, including minor children.

* Giving training benefits to unemployed workers, laid off from a "declining" occupation, enrolled in a state-approved training program to enter a high-demand occupation.

Besides Kennedy, sponsors of the bill are Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), John Warner (R-Va.), and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.