Hogan agrees to unemployment pay plan Trump plan adds $300 a week to state's existing unemployment benefits

Unemployed Marylanders can receive an extra $300 a week in jobless benefits if an application for federal funds is approved, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Wednesday.

The supplement replaces, but halves the extra unemployment benefits that had been given to the millions of Americans who had been thrust out of work by the coronavirus pandemic, but those funds expired last month

Congress ended up in a partisan stalemate over extending the additional benefits, prompting President Donald Trump to order that unemployment recipients receive an extra $400 a week, with a fourth of that to come from the states. But it was unclear exactly how that would work, and many states said they could not afford to do that because their own revenues were depleted by the pandemic and economic slowdown.

The Trump administration then offered a way for states not to incur additional expense by counting what they were already paying in unemployment benefits as their 25% share. That is the option Maryland is taking.

On Wednesday, Hogan said the state submitted an application to the Federal Emergency Management Administration for a grant that would pay $300 in extra unemployment benefits per claimant. Once FEMA approves the application, the state Department of Labor's Division of Unemployment Insurance will coordinate with federal agencies to begin distributing the funds in late September, according to Hogan's announcement.

The new supplement will be retroactive to the week ending Aug. 1, and will continue to Dec. 26. Without the supplement, which expired in late July, Marylanders had been limited to receiving a maximum of $430 a week in unemployment benefits.

Hogan's statement cautioned that the new Lost Wages Assistance program is subject to change if FEMA funding runs out or a new federal law on extra unemployment compensation is passed. Also unclear is the effect of the new program on the unemployment insurance funds of Maryland and other states, which have been strained by the massive increase benefits they have had to pay with businesses, schools and other employers still closed or only partially reopened.

Maryland Labor Secretary Tiffany P. Robinson said in a statement that while it will take some time to implement the new program, applicants would receive payments retroactive to their earliest date of eligibility.

To qualify, applicants must be eligible for unemployment benefits of at least $100 a week and must certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Hogan said in a statement that while Maryland was "doing much better" than most of the rest of the country on controlling the coronavirus and rebuilding the economy, the extra benefits will help keep the state on track.

"Far too many Marylanders are still struggling to make ends meet during this pandemic," he said. "With this critical funding, we can help those struggling Marylanders weather this storm, get back on their feet, and recover."

Hogan said the state unemployment rate is 8.0%, nearly 28% lower than the national unemployment rate.