Gov. Bev Perdue issued an executive order Wednesday extending unemployment benefits for the state's long-term unemployed.
The action means about 25,000 people in North Carolina will have their benefits extended until the end of February, instead of having them end Jan. 28.
"In addition to providing desperately needed financial help to the families that actually receive the benefits, these federal dollars will help all North Carolinians because the money will circulate throughout the economy and help support large and small businesses across the state," Perdue said in a statement.
She added that, because the additional benefits are being paid with federal dollars, the state doesn't have to repay the money. In recent years, North Carolina has borrowed billions of dollars from the federal government to pay for initial unemployment benefits. That money will have to be repaid.
The Jan. 28 cutoff date was a result of a change in federal law that states had to also make in order to get the funds.
At the end of December, Congress authorized an additional 20 weeks of unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed in states with high unemployment rates. That legislation extends unemployment benefits until the end of February.
The U.S. Department of Labor changed the formula that determines whether or not states qualify for extended benefits. States must now also change the calculations used to set the dates when extended benefits can be paid.
The state had been working under language set forth last spring - not what Congress enacted in December. It required an executive order or a special legislative session to make the change.
Earlier Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis issued a joint statement, saying the General Assembly was ready to work with Perdue and encouraged her to call lawmakers back for a special session.
The situation is similar to last spring when the Republican-led legislature tried to link an extension of payments to 42,000 unemployed workers to the budget they wanted Perdue to approve. She refused and ended up issuing an executive order approving the payouts.
