Endicott, NY – Today, Assembly Small Business Chair Assemblyman Al Stirpe, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, and other upstate Majority members, sent a letter to US Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh regarding high unemployment insurance premiums affecting NY businesses. New York was one of 19 states that borrowed from the federal government during the pandemic to assist workers and maintain the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund. That figure amounts to over $9 billion.

Repaying these advances to the federal government has led to much higher than expected unemployment insurance rates. The letter asks the US Department of Labor either forgive New York’s debt, or to extend the repayment period from two years to twenty years.

“This is the worst possible time for NY businesses to experience these increases,” said Lupardo, the Chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee and a member of the Assembly Economic Development Committee. “Further assistance is needed from our federal partners so that NY businesses can recover and thrive in a post-pandemic economy.”