NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Federal unemployment money from President Donald Trump’s executive action is now being shared across the state.
If you haven’t checked your bank account yet, it may be time to do so. As we expected, Tennessee was one of the first states to begin processing the Lost Wages Assistance grant.
So if you’ve been waiting for the money to arrive, Friday may just be that day. Many across the state have already begun to see the $900 in either their bank accounts or their Way2Go cards.
The $900 is made up of three payments of $300 each week, retroactive to August 1. To be eligible you must have lost your job because of COVID-19 and you’ve already been eligible for at least $100 in unemployment benefits per week.
www.newschannel5.com/rebound/tennesseans-begin-receiving-900-lwa-unemployment-payment
Yesterday FEMA approved two more states! FEMA has now officially approved thirty-seven states to receive LWA. Another state sending out payments retroactively for a total of six states now sending out LWA payments. Two more states announced they may be providing an extra $100 to the LWA so now we have five states that could potentially be paying $400 per week. And there are now two states so far that are now receiving 4 weeks of benefits from FEMA.
Exciting news that FEMA has more money to provide for LWA than expected and to states now are receiving four weeks’ worth of payments. At this point in time this isn’t for all states as FEMA originally guaranteed only three weeks of payments but FEMA some of the earlier states may receive this additional funding. Right now, those two states are Arizona and Montana.
The now six states distributing LWA payments now include: Arizona, Texas, Louisiana Missouri, Tennessee, and Montana. It is looking likely that most states will be sending out LWA payments in September. California, New Mexico, and Utah payments will go out likely the first week of September. Other states like Maryland and Colorado it’ll be late to mid to late September.
Distribution time depends on your state. After your state applies and is approved FEMA can provide funding however then the state must distribute the funds and some states are saying this might take a while for their systems to implement. Several states are already distributing funds while some other states that have been approved are saying they might not be able to distribute until as late as September or even October.
States that have either been silent or just simply have not managed to see any info on include Washington DC, North Dakota, Nebraska.
The states that have officially applied and are awaiting approval or have announced they will be applying include Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
The states that have officially announced they will be contributing an additional $100 per week to the LWA program so their unemployed receive $400 per week while the rest of the state will only receive $300 per week include Kentucky, West Virginia, Vermont, Kansas and Montana.
When you receive it, it will be retroactively back dated to August 1st according to the memorandum which is when FPUC the $600 weekly boost expired but claimants from some states are saying they are receiving it from the 8th. For states approved FEMA, who is providing the funding, guarantees three weeks of benefits at $300 per week. However exciting news from FEMA, that some of the first states may be receiving more than three weeks.
According to the executive memorandum if you collect $100 or more from your unemployment benefits you will receive this boost if you make less than $100 per week you are not eligible. This serves as a reminder that this is only a temporary form of aid and we need congress to step in and provide something more inclusive like we saw with FPUC.
South Dakota is the only state that has officially declined.
Now for the new states approved by FEMA. www.fema.gov/fact-sheet/lost-…. The 26 states in order by most recently approved:
Aug 28, 2020: Wyoming, Oregon
Aug 27, 2020: West Virginia
Aug 26, 2020: Ohio, Virginia,
Aug 25, 2020: Maine, Arkansas
Aug 24, 2020: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington, New Hampshire
Aug 23, 2020: New York, Alaska, Georgia
Aug 22, 2020: Vermont, Mississippi, Tennessee, Rhode Island
Aug 21, 2020: Massachusetts, Alabama, California, Indiana, North Carolina
August 21, 2020: Texas
August 21, 2020: Kentucky
August 21, 2020: Michigan
August 19, 2020: Maryland
August 19, 2020: Idaho
August 18, 2020: Oklahoma
August 18, 2020: Montana
August 16, 2020: Colorado, Missouri and Utah
August 15, 2020: Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico