On Tuesday, Assembly Republicans passed 8 bills that will modernize the unemployment insurance program, root out waste, eliminate fraud from the system, and ensure it's used by those who truly need so Wisconsinites can get back to work. Here is a summary of some of the bills that were passed.

Assembly Bill 164: Renames the program to "Reemployment Assistance", as the whole goal of this program is to help those with an employment history transition to new work. As businesses in Wisconsin are facing workforce shortages, AB 164 emphasizes employment by requiring an applicant to post their resume on the Job Center of Wisconsin after one week, so the process of finding new work is expedited.

Assembly Bill 167: Updates state statute to include theft, destruction of property, and habitual absence in the definition of misconduct so that employees fired for these particular offenses are not able to make use of this loophole to still get unemployment insurance. The unemployment program is designed to help those who lost their job through no fault of their own, not those fired for theft, destruction or habitual absences. The updating of "misconduct" establishes more accountability in the program.

Assembly Bill 169: Works to prevent “ghosting”, where an applicant will apply for a job interview to keep their benefits active, but intentionally skips the interview as they have no real intention of working. This not only is a clear abuse of a loophole in the system, but it also redirects the benefits of the program from eligible applicants to "identity thieves" who only want to keep their benefits active instead of working.