With call backs on unemployment claims now taking as long as six weeks, a bi-partisan group of state lawmakers has signed a letter, demanding that Governor Newsom take more effective action. Among those is Nevada County’s State Senator, Brian Dahle. He admits this is an unprecedented situation, with massive layoffs due to coronavirus shutdowns….

But Dahle says the Employment Development Department has been plagued with staffing and technical issues for years, including the previous recession of about a decade ago. The Department is upgrading call centers, so it can have fully-trained staff members available daily, from 8am to 8pm. But Dahle says it should be 24 hours a day…

And, for now, the 8 to 8 line, established by the governor’s office in April, designed to ease the backlog, is mostly for general questions and what’s described by the department as “secondary technical assistance. A separate call center designed to handle individual issues is only open from 8am to noon Monday through Friday.