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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, A new coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
3was discovered in China at the end of 2019 and rapidly spread
4around the globe; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The Trump Administration declared a public health
6emergency on January 31, 2020 in response to COVID-19; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The World Health Organization characterized the
8outbreak of the COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Governmental efforts to contain and restrict the
10spread of COVID-19 led to widespread economic dislocation and
11unemployment; and
 
12    WHEREAS, President Trump signed the Families First
13Coronavirus Response Act on March 18, 2020, providing $1
14billion to the states to use in the administration and
15processing of their unemployment claims; and
 
16    WHEREAS, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus
17Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27,
182020, providing $250 billion to expand unemployment benefits,
19extending benefits to more workers, increasing weekly
20payments, and prolonging eligibility for unemployed workers;

 

 

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1and
 
2    WHEREAS, The CARES Act also created a $150 billion
3Coronavirus Relief Fund for state, local, and tribal
4governments; these funds could be used by states for
5unemployment costs caused by COVID-19; and
 
6    WHEREAS, President Trump took executive action to bolster
7unemployment benefits in August, authorizing the expenditure
8of up to an additional $44 billion; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The federal government provided states additional
10flexibility in the administration of many programs, including
11the unemployment insurance program; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The American Rescue Plan Act provided additional
13federal aid and extended a number of unemployment programs,
14including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Program
15through September 6, 2021; and
 
16    WHEREAS, States, while receiving federal financial
17assistance, are ultimately responsible to run their own
18unemployment programs; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Illinois experienced significant unemployment due
20to the pandemic and the resultant governmental actions; after

 

 

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1an initial spike in unemployment claims to over 970,000 in
2April 2020, the number of unemployment claims declined through
3October 2020 and have remained through June 2021 within a band
4of 430,000 and 480,000 per month, approximately double the
5pre-pandemic rate; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Illinois has had consistently higher unemployment
7rates during the pandemic than any of its neighboring states;
8in June 2021, Illinois's unemployment rate was 7.2%, Indiana's
9was 4.1%, Iowa's was 4.0%, Kentucky's was 4.4%, Missouri's was
104.3%, and Wisconsin's was 3.9%, according to data released by
11the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security
13had 1,041 employees in April 2020, according to the Better
14Government Association, a decline from January 2019 when
15Governor Pritzker assumed office; and
 
16    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security,
17using federal funds, initially contracted with Deloitte to
18hire an additional 500 individuals to assist with the
19increased call volume; and
 
20    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security,
21in conjunction with Deloitte, took two months to set up the
22Pandemic Employment Assistance Program provided for by the

 

 

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1CARES Act; the implementation of the Pandemic Unemployment
2Assistance program in Illinois lagged most other states; and
 
3    WHEREAS, From March 21, 2020 through June 13, 2020, the
4Illinois Department of Employment Security received an average
5of 200,000 unique callers per week but, on average, only
6answered 10% of them; at its lowest point during that period,
7only 5% of calls were answered; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Many Illinois residents have been targeted and
9victimized by fraudulent unemployment claims made in their
10names; and
 
11    WHEREAS, It has proven extremely difficult for claimants
12and fraud victims alike to contact the Illinois Department of
13Employment Security; many waited months to receive a call
14back, leaving them in financial limbo and accentuating the
15challenges of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic; and
 
16    WHEREAS, According to the Better Government Association,
17the Illinois Department of Employment Security had only been
18issuing approximately 1% of its unemployment checks within
19seven days of the application for benefits through September,
20resulting in Illinois being the slowest state in the nation
21and one of only ten states that fell below 10%; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Better Government Association further
2reported that Illinois failed to achieve federal standards for
3its unemployment program in five out of 10 performance
4measures; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The Chicago Tribune reported that, despite the
6federal government in April 2020 "strongly" recommending that
7the state use additional fraud-prevention tools, the Illinois
8Department of Employment Security failed to implement the
9recommended anti-fraud tools; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Auditor General released a financial audit of
11the Illinois Department of Employment Security on July 28,
122021; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The financial audit of the Illinois Department of
14Employment Security only covered fiscal year 2021, from July
151, 2019 through June 30, 2020, and only overlapped with the
16Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program for seven weeks, from
17May 11, 2020, through June 30, 2020; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program has
19been repeatedly extended and now continues through September
206, 2021; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The financial audit released by the Auditor

 

 

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1General only examined approximately 10% of the time period
2covered by the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The financial audit stated that, during these
4seven weeks, the Illinois Department of Employment Security
5failed to accurately document eligibility, resulting in
6potentially ineligible claimants receiving benefits totaling
7$154,906,354, which included:
8        (1) Failing to validate the identities of 4,579
9    claimants before paying them $41,697,272;
10        (2) Paying both Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and
11    regular unemployment insurance benefits to 638 claimants,
12    resulting in the claimants receiving benefits under both
13    programs;
14        (3) Paying benefits to 266 claimants that had
15    birthdays the same day as or after the date of the claim
16    submission with at least one claimant with a recorded
17    birth date in 2029; and
18        (4) Paying benefits to 35 deceased claimants; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The financial audit additionally found that the
20Illinois Department of Employment Security had, prior to July
211, 2020:
22        (1) Paid Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits to
23    63 claimants who were 90 years old or older;
24        (2) Paid Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits to

 

 

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1    164 claimants who were between the ages of birth and 13
2    years of age; and
3        (3) Paid Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits to
4    31 claimants who submitted multiple Social Security
5    numbers and multiple claimant IDs; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security
7has acknowledged paying out $14.8 million in fraudulent claims
8to individuals who had either failed to report or
9underreported earnings; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security
11has refused to release any numbers pertaining to identity
12theft-related unemployment fraud; and
 
13    WHEREAS, An official with LexisNexis Risk Solutions
14testified at a hearing of the House Cybersecurity Committee
15that Illinois had lost an estimated $1 billion to unemployment
16insurance fraud; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Illinois' Unemployment Trust Fund faces a
18multibillion dollar deficit, which will fall on small business
19owners across the state; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
21ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Auditor General is

 

 

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1directed to conduct a full financial and performance audit of
2the Illinois Department of Employment Security's
3administration of the state's unemployment programs for the
4period between March 1, 2020 and September 6, 2021; and be it
5further
 
6    RESOLVED, That the audit include, but not be limited to,
7the following determinations:
8        (1) A review of the application and review processes
9    and the payment of benefits to individuals; it shall focus
10    on any fraud or inefficiencies that could be eliminated to
11    contain costs and improve the delivery of benefits to
12    eligible individuals;
13        (2) A detailed account of the funds wrongfully
14    disbursed to ineligible and fraudulent claimants;
15        (3) The types of unemployment fraud schemes the
16    Illinois Department of Employment Security has experienced
17    and what steps and procedures it has taken to detect and
18    respond to fraudulent unemployment claims and whether it
19    has cooperated with the Illinois Attorney General or
20    federal authorities to detect, counter, and prosecute
21    fraud;
22        (4) Whether the Illinois Department of Employment
23    Security has complied with all state and federal statutory
24    and administrative requirements for processing and
25    auditing unemployment claims;

 

 

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1        (5) An examination of the Illinois Department of
2    Employment Security's decision not to implement additional
3    fraud-prevention tools in April 2021 as recommended by the
4    federal government and a report on whether the state has,
5    since that time, come into compliance with federal
6    recommendations;
7        (6) What factors caused and continue to cause delays
8    in the Illinois Department of Employment Security's
9    processing of unemployment claims, looking particularly at
10    administrative decisions, technology, and staffing, and
11    what steps it has taken to alleviate these delays;
12        (7) What third-party contractors did the Illinois
13    Department of Employment Security utilize during this time
14    period and were any of these contracts no-bid contracts;
15    did a third-party contractor calculate weekly benefit
16    amounts for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claimants
17    and, if so, were there any procedures to verify the
18    accuracy of their calculations; did third-party
19    contractors meet the performance measure established by
20    the Department prior to the issuance of the contracts; and
21        (8) A detailed report that includes a full summary of
22    the average case processing time, the timeliness of
23    benefit payments, and the accuracy of these payments; and
24    be it further
 
25    RESOLVED, That that the Auditor General commence this

 

 

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1audit as soon as possible and report his findings and
2recommendations upon completion in accordance with the
3provisions of Section 3-14 of the Illinois State Auditing Act;
4and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Employment
6Security and the Office of the Governor cooperate fully and
7promptly with the Auditor General in the conduct of this
8audit; and be it further
 
9    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
10delivered to the Auditor General, the Illinois Department of
11Employment Security, the Office of the Governor, and the
12Legislative Audit Commission.