Auditor General: Audit Of Pa. Unemployment Comp System 'Stunning'
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Pennsylvania's auditor general says the state's unemployment compensation system has suffered from incompetent management and that the system's computer operations are on the verge of collapse.
Funding for the unemployment compensation processing system was held up last November because Senate Republicans said they had unanswered questions.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Tuesday that lawmakers asking hard questions about the system is "entirely fair." He says despite millions of dollars allocated over the last four years for the UC Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund, or SIIC, computer databases are a "bad glitch" away from being wiped out.
"Somebody right now that's getting a UC check, if that system goes down, not just that their checks would be delayed, but their names would be wiped out from the system."
On top of that, DePasquale says sloppy accounting means that it is nearly impossible to tell exactly how more than $178 million dollars appropriated for the SIIC were spent.