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HB1320 • 2026

Unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amount.

An Act to amend and reenact § 60.2-602 of the Code of Virginia, relating to unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amounts.

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Martinez
Last action
2026-04-13
Official status
Acts of Assembly Chapter
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amount.

Unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amount.

What This Bill Does

  • Unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amount.
  • Provides that, for unemployment compensation claims effective on or after July 1, 2026, an eligible individual's weekly benefit amount shall be $48 higher than the current weekly benefit amount, as denoted in the table in the printed bill.
  • This bill is identical to SB 759.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-04-13 Governor

    Approved by Governor-Chapter 774 (effective 7/1/2026)

  2. 2026-04-13 Governor

    Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0774)

  3. 2026-04-13 Governor

    Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0774)

  4. 2026-04-01 House

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1320)

  5. 2026-03-31 House

    Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026

  6. 2026-03-31 Governor

    Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026

  7. 2026-03-31 House

    Signed by Speaker

  8. 2026-03-31 House

    Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026

  9. 2026-03-31 Governor

    Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026

  10. 2026-03-30 Senate

    Signed by President

  11. 2026-03-30 House

    Enrolled

  12. 2026-03-30 House

    Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1320ER)

  13. 2026-03-04 Senate

    Read third time

  14. 2026-03-04 Senate

    Read third time

  15. 2026-03-04 Senate

    Passed Senate (21-Y 19-N 0-A)

  16. 2026-03-03 Finance and Appropriations

    Reported from Finance and Appropriations (8-Y 5-N)

  17. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Rules suspended

  18. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Rules suspended

  19. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Passed by for the day

  20. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)

  21. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)

  22. 2026-03-02 Commerce and Labor

    Reported from Commerce and Labor and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)

  23. 2026-02-18 Senate

    Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)

  24. 2026-02-18 Commerce and Labor

    Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor

  25. 2026-02-17 House

    Read third time and passed House (62-Y 35-N 0-A)

  26. 2026-02-16 House

    Read second time

  27. 2026-02-16 House

    committee substitute agreed to

  28. 2026-02-16 House

    Engrossed by House - committee substitute

  29. 2026-02-13 House

    Read first time

  30. 2026-02-12 Appropriations

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1320)

  31. 2026-02-11 Commerce Agriculture & Natural Resources

    Assigned HAPP sub: Commerce Agriculture & Natural Resources

  32. 2026-02-11 Appropriations

    Reported from Appropriations with substitute

  33. 2026-02-11 Appropriations

    Reported from Appropriations with substitute (15-Y 7-N)

  34. 2026-02-11 Commerce Agriculture & Natural Resources

    Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 2-N)

  35. 2026-02-11 Commerce Agriculture & Natural Resources

    House subcommittee offered

  36. 2026-02-11 Appropriations

    Committee substitute printed 26107582D-H1

  37. 2026-02-10 House

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB1320)

  38. 2026-02-10 Labor and Commerce

    Reported from Labor and Commerce and referred to Appropriations (15-Y 7-N)

  39. 2026-02-05 Subcommittee #2

    Subcommittee recommends reporting and referring to Appropriations (5-Y 2-N)

  40. 2026-01-27 Subcommittee #2

    Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #2

  41. 2026-01-16 House

    Presented and ordered printed with emergency clause 26102277D

  42. 2026-01-16 Labor and Commerce

    Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce

Official Summary Text

Unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amount.
Provides that, for unemployment compensation claims effective on or after July 1, 2026, an eligible individual's weekly benefit amount shall be $48 higher than the current weekly benefit amount, as denoted in the table in the printed bill. This bill is identical to SB 759.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
An Act to amend and reenact §
60.2-602
of the Code of Virginia, relating to unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amounts.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §
60.2-602
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§
60.2-602
. Weekly benefit amount.
A. Beginning July 6, 2008, for claims effective on or after July 6, 2008, but before July 6, 2014, an eligible individual's weekly "benefit amount" shall be the amount appearing in Column B in the "Benefit Table" in this
section
subsection
on the line on which in Column A of such table, there appears the total wages for insured work paid to such individual in the two quarters of his base period in which such total wages were highest.
Benefit Table Division C Duration of Benefits beginning July 6, 2008, but before July 6, 2014
SEE PRINTED BILL FOR TABLES

B. Beginning July 6, 2014, for claims effective on or after July 6, 2014, but before January 1, 2026, an eligible individual's weekly "benefit amount" shall be the amount appearing in Column B in the "Benefit Table" in this
section
subsection
on the line on which in Column A of such table, there appears the total wages for insured work paid to such individual in the two quarters of his base period in which such total wages were highest.
Benefit Table Division C Duration of Benefits beginning July 6, 2014, but before January 1, 2026
SEE PRINTED BILL FOR TABLES

C. Beginning January 1, 2026, for claims effective on or after January 1, 2026
, but before July 1, 2026
, an eligible individual's weekly "benefit amount" shall be the amount appearing in Column B in the "Benefit Table" in this
section
subsection
on the line on which in Column A of such table, there appears the total wages for insured work paid to such individual in the two quarters of his base period in which such total wages were highest.
Benefit Table Division C Duration of Benefits beginning January 1, 2026
, but before July 1, 2026

SEE PRINTED BILL FOR TABLES
D. Beginning on July 1, 2026, for claims effective on or after July 1, 2026: an eligible individual's weekly "benefit amount" shall be the amount appearing in Column B in the "Benefit Table" in this subsection on the line on which in Column A of such table, there appears the total wages for insured work paid to such individual in the two quarters of his base period in which such total wages were highest.
Benefit Table Division C Weekly Benefit Amounts beginning on July 1, 2026
SEE PRINTED BILL FOR TABLES
2. That the provisions of this act enhance the benefits payable to an individual pursuant to Title 60.2 of the Code of Virginia. Pursuant to §
30-19.03:1
.2 of the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Employment Commission, in consultation with the Department of Planning and Budget, estimates that over the ensuing eight years (i) the provisions of this act are projected to reduce the solvency level of the Unemployment Trust Fund by an average of 7.43 percent in each of the eight years and (ii) the projected average annual increase in state unemployment tax liability of employers on a per-employee basis that would result from the provisions of this act is indeterminate.