Democrats in California's Assembly are introducing a package of bills designed to reform the Employment Development Department.
Assemblyman David Chiu from San Francisco says the EDD needs to do a better job of weeding out fraudulent claims and processing legitimate claims in a timely manor. EDD has come under fire for distributing up to $30 billion in fraudulent claims and then stalling millions of legitimate claims trying to stop the fraud. California lawmakers say they have been dealing with thousands of constituents, trying to get through to EDD.
The package of bills would create an EDD oversight board and an office of claimant rights. Other bills would require EDD to cross check new claims against prison records to prevent inmates from getting money they're not entitled to. It would also allocate $55 million to set up a task force to track down fraudulent claims and recover the money if possible.