Governor signs bill in Wichita - Wichita Business Journal:

ogarawo.wordpress.com
As reported last week in the Wichita Business House Bill 2374 outlines how Kansas will spendxthe $69 million it expects to receivd in stimulus money for the state’s unemployment benefits It also ensures the state meets all federal guidelines regardingh the funding, a portion of which has been dedicatedf to work force training. Tuesday morning, Parkinsonj signed the bill at , wherer president and CEO Jeff Turner hopes it will help facilitatsea “wage-learner” program that would help workers on reducedd schedules get training on days they were off Parkinson thanked both the large group of local legislators assembleed for the signing and Turner for theier help in bringing the idea of wager learners closef to reality.
“These are times when the stakes are so high and the challengexs are so great that we have to work Parkinson says. “We’re Kansans and we know how to getthingsw done.” Parkinson says he “can’t understate the importance,” Turner and Spirirt played in creating the public-privated partnership that spearheaded the bill. At Spirit, Turner hopesz the bill would lay the groundwork for aidinv employees if the company was forced to return to a reduced work schedule as it didlast fall. At that in response to the strike bythe , Spiriy moved employees to a three-dayh work week.
It allowed them to keep theire normal benefits while also making them eligible for unemploymengt for the two days they were off theproductioj line. Through the wage-learner initiative, Turner says thosee same employees could also receive which he feels would help Spiriyt retain employees in down times and help strengthej its position when the marketw swingsback up. Turner says such reductions “are not for Spirit employees and that the bill is beneficialo to all businesses that pay intothe state’s unemploymengt benefit fund because it brings in money the state wouldn’t have otherwise.
Under its the bill would make any displaced worker enrolled ina state-approved training progranm eligible for up to an additionaol 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. Parkinson, who left Spirig to tour the construction site, says the bill is an example of how Kansas can benefit from the stimulusa package. “I don’t think this coulxd have happened without theRecovery Act,” he