More ag worker aid SACRAMENTO - Farm workers who remain unemployed following January's freeze, which damaged crops through much of the state, including the Salinas area, are now eligible for some financial aid. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed Senate Bill 116 by Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria. The bill increases from $25 to $200 the amount of wages that freeze victims may earn before reductions in unemployment insurance benefits. "This bill provides critical relief for those who need it most," Maldonado said in a prepared statement. "These workers have been waiting for too long to claim their benefits." The bill applies to workers who lost their jobs in Monterey, Riverside, Tulare and other counties where the governor declared a state of emergency because of the two-week freeze that began Jan. 11. The freeze caused an estimated $1.3 billion in damage statewide. But to receive the extra boost, workers must still be out of work because of the freeze and receiving regular unemployment benefits between Sept. 30 and Nov. 4, said Patrick Joyce, a spokesman for the Employment Development Department. AB 116 benefits end Nov. 4. Joyce said the department had no data on how many workers might be covered by this bill. |