LETTER: Nevada still behind the curve when it comes to the unemployed
Gov. Steve Sisolak continues to be embarrassingly late to the fight assisting the unemployed. When the state unemployment agency announced Aug. 25 that it will apply for the $300-a-week federal supplemental payment for jobless residents, 30 states already had been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay “lost wages assistance.”
Gov. Sisolak announced April 27 that Nevada would be a member of the Western States Pact for reopening from the pandemic closures. The bordering states of Arizona, California, Idaho and Utah already have been approved. Waiting 23 days after President Donald Trump’s Aug. 8 announcement to apply for funds proves this administration is as slow as a battleship turning in the ocean in a nanosecond, 24-hour news cycle world.
We should not be surprised. Thousands of Nevada residents still await original benefit payments more than three months after payments began. Retroactive payments mean nothing when the housing eviction embargo ends before firs-t or second-round payments are made.
Gov. Sisolak has proven to be one of the worst problem-solvers in recent history for any state. Nevada was the second-fastest growing state before the pandemic, but now it’s in last place for services delivered by government.