SB 229

This massive rewrite of Kansas unemployment insurance law touched dozens of provisions governing who qualifies for benefits, how long they last, and what counts as "suitable work." While early versions contained real wins for workers — including protections against midnight budget cuts to UI and guarantees that union-negotiated supplemental unemployment pay wouldn't reduce state benefits — the final version that came out of conference committee gutted critical worker protections and added harmful restrictions on eligibility and benefits. Labor opposes the bill as passed because the final product failed to protect the provisions that mattered most to working families who depend on unemployment insurance during layoffs.