State legislators are moving towards reform for unemployment.

Representative for House District 20 Ray Sorensen says unemployment reform is a big issue for Republicans this legislative session. Sorensen explains voters in Iowa want to give people in need of unemployment, a hand up not a hand out. 

“We have hundreds of thousands of job openings and we have hundreds of thousands more not working, and we’ve got to kind of figure out how do we fill those jobs and get people back to work?”

A bill that was recently introduced in the Iowa House, House Study Bill 631, would cut the unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks and create a one week waiting period before benefits start.