Information on State and Federal Benefit Payments

From – https://edd.ca.gov/about_edd/coronavirus-2019/pandemic-unemployment-assistance.htm

As part of the federal CARES Act, the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program helps unemployed Californians who are business owners, self-employed, independent contractors, have limited work history, and others not usually eligible for regular state UI benefits who are out of business or services are significantly reduced as a direct result of the pandemic. The provisions of the program once operational include:

• Up to 39 weeks of benefits starting with weeks of unemployment beginning February 2, 2020, through the week ending December 26, 2020*, depending on when you became directly impacted by the pandemic.
• An additional $600 to each PUA weekly benefit amount you may be eligible to receive, as part of the separate CARES Act Pandemic Additional Compensation program. Only the weeks of a claim between March 29 and July 25* are eligible for the extra $600 payments.

* Under the CARES Act of 2020, the $600 additional benefits are available through 07/31/20. However, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued guidance to clarify that, for most Californians, the last full week of benefits will end on 07/25/20. Similarly, the PUA program has a legislative end date of 12/31/20, but for Californians the last full week of benefits will end on 12/26/20.

Benefits can be retroactive to weeks starting on or after February 2, 2020, depending on your last day of work due to COVID-19 and regardless of when you submitted your claim application. The effective date of your claim will begin the Sunday of the week when you last worked and became unemployed due to reasons directly related to COVID-19.

Important Information

Note: Because this is a brand new program, each state will need time to develop all of the necessary system programming, forms, processes, and procedures. This page will be updated as information becomes available, including when and how to apply for these benefits. Once this new complex program is built and staffed, it will likely rival the size of the regular UI program the EDD already administers.

As we work to implement this new program, you can:

• Review the eligibility requirements the federal government has prescribed in order to receive these federally paid benefits.
• Visit the Labor Workforce Development Agency’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance FAQs for more information.
• Contact your local America’s Job Center of California^SM where EDD staff work with local partners to provide employment assistance. You could be eligible for Supportive Services funding to help you with basic needs.

Eligibility

The PUA benefits are payable if you don’t qualify for regular UI benefits in California or another state and also do not qualify for State Disability Insurance or Paid Family Leave benefits. This includes:

• Business owners
• Self-employed individuals
• Independent contractors

You can also be eligible if you qualified for regular UI benefits, but have collected all benefits for which they are eligible.

If you are not a citizen of the United States, you cannot be paid PUA benefits unless you were legally permitted to work in the United States at the time such services were performed. In addition, you must be authorized to work for any week of PUA benefits claimed to be eligible for payments.

You must also meet one of the following criteria:

• You have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and are seeking a medical diagnosis.
• You are unable to work because a health care provider advised you to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
• A member of your household has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
• You are providing care for a family member or a member of your household who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
• A child or other person in the household for whom you have primary caregiving responsibility is unable to attend school or another facility that is closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 and the school or facility care is required for you to work.
• You became the breadwinner or major support for a household because the head of the household has died as a direct result of COVID-19.
• You have to quit your job as a direct result of COVID-19.
• Your place of employment is closed as a direct result of COVID-19.
• You were scheduled to start a job that is now unavailable as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
• You are unable to reach the place of employment as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
• If you work as an independent contractor with reportable income, you may also qualify for PUA benefits if you are unemployed, partially employed, or unable or unavailable to work because the COVID-19 public health emergency has severely limited your ability to continue performing your customary work activities, and has thereby forced you to stop working.

Benefit Payments

In order to provide benefits as quickly as possible, payments will be issued in phases. If you qualify for PUA, and depending on the effective date of your PUA claim, the initial payments you will receive are as follows:

• Phase 1 – $167 per week for each week you were unemployed from February 2, 2020 to March 28, 2020 due to a COVID-19 related reason.
• Phase 2 – $167 plus $600 per week for each week you were unemployed from March 29, 2020 to July 25, 2020, due to a COVID-19 related reason.
• Phase 3 – $167 per week, for each week from July 26, 2020 to December 26, 2020, that you are unemployed due to a COVID-19 related reason, up to a total of 39 weeks (minus any weeks of regular UI and certain extended UI benefits that you have received).

Note: If you qualify for your claim to be backdated to an earlier PUA effective date based on your last day of work, you could receive payment for prior weeks you were unemployed due to COVID-19.

You will be required to “certify” for your benefit payment. Certifying is the process of answering basic questions every two weeks that tells us you’re still unemployed and otherwise eligible to continue receiving biweekly payments.

When to File a Claim

We have a dedicated team working around the clock with state partners to build this new program as quickly as possible. The EDD will begin accepting online applications for this program on Tuesday, April 28. This page will be updated with instructions for filing a claim for PUA benefits when details become available.

If you are unsure if you are an independent contractor or an employee who could be eligible for benefits, file for regular Unemployment Insurance benefits and we will determine your eligibility.

After you have filed, refer to our step-by-step UI claims process. You’ll learn what to expect and the actions you need to take through the course of your claim for receiving benefit payments as long as you’re eligible.

By Antioch Police

Are you ready for another example of East County Strong?

Wednesday morning, April 22, 2020 at about 6:15 am, Antioch Police Officer Amiri and his handsome four-legged partner Purcy were getting ready to call it a night, when they heard a call on the Brentwood frequency reporting a burglary at the 24 Hour Fitness – Brentwood. An observant citizen saw a carload of bandits prying open a back door and stealing tools. They called 9-1-1 right-away and gave a description of the vehicle, which was seen getting onto the freeway.

Officer Amiri, who cannot sleep knowing there’s crime afoot, setup on the freeway and found the vehicle as it exited toward downtown Antioch. A stop was made, and all the stolen loot was found. We called over to our friends at the City of Brentwood – Police Department, who gladly accepted the four arrestees (with their new bracelets), and took things over from there.

Thinking of coming to our cities to commit crimes? Think again! We have a dedicated group of officers (and canines) who will sniff you out! Again folks, this was accomplished because someone saw something wrong and called us right-away. We can’t do this without you – consider it a partnership, but we always get to drive (and pick the radio station).

#EastCountyStrong   #AntiochPD   #BrentwoodPD   #CaninePurcy   #StayAtHome

By Antioch Police Department

Drinking and Driving is NOT an Essential Activity.

Tuesday evening, April 21, 2020 at about 10:45 pm, an Antioch Police officer patrolling the Sycamore area spotted a vehicle driving erratically just prior to crashing into a fence. The driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol and arrested. Luckily, she suffered only minor injuries, and nobody else was hurt. Her vehicle was totaled and a fence was badly damaged.

Every day, nearly 30 people die in the USA from DUI crashes. That’s one person every 50 minutes, or approximately 10,000 people per year. In 2013, approximately 23,000 people were injured on California roadways from a DUI driver. This is completely preventable and there’s no excuse, especially during a time like this.

Please don’t drink and drive! If the loss of your license and paying approximately $10,000 in fines and fees isn’t enough, think about the lives you’ll save, including your own.

If you spot an impaired driver on the road, please keep a safe distance, and call 9-1-1 to report.

#SaferAtHome   #DontDrinkAndDrive #AntiochPD

No late fees for 120 days

By Daniel Borsuk

Residential and commercial renters will get some rental and eviction relief during the COVID-19 pandemic after the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve an ordinance containing a 180-day grace period, two months more than what supervisors initially had in mind, during a special meeting on Tuesday. (See entire ordinance, here).

By liberally extending the grace period an extra two months, supervisors are handing over to thousands of renters in the county more financial and housing relief during this stressful period when COVID-19 has decimated their financial livelihood. In March, the county’s unemployment rate was 4 percent and April’s unemployment rate will very likely rise sharply when it is release later on.

Instead of inserting a 120-day grace period that other counties like Santa Clara County have inserted in its COVID-19 rent control and eviction moratoria ordinance, Contra Costa County supervisors at the request of District 1 Supervisor John Gioia of Richmond convinced other supervisors that a longer grace period is needed given the uncertainty of the duration of the medical and economic repercussions from the current local and state-mandated stay-at-home orders.

Gioia said he favored the more expansive 180-day grace period because the ordinance, as it was proposed to supervisors, does not protect all tenants whether they are delinquent or current in their rent.

“You have to be up to date on rent in order to be protected by the ordinance presented by counsel,” said Gioia. “It’s very unfortunate that the governor’s order requires this. Tenants must be current on rent to qualify for the grace period.”

Supervisors listened to 45 emailed comments from county residents, most of whom were in support of at least a 120-day grace period, little knowing that Gioia would propose a more expansive 180-day grace period.

“We’re dealing with uncertain times,” said District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis of Brentwood. “We’re dealing with people who have not paid rent. People who have lost jobs because businesses have shut down.”

District 4 Supervisor Karen Mitchoff of Pleasant Hill preferred to retain the ordinance’s 120-day grace period clause saying it was sufficient for renters, but eventually agreed to the 180-day grace period for rent and eviction moratoria purposes until May 25 when supervisors plan to revisit the issue.

Other features of the ordinance taken mainly from the Santa Clara County ordinance include countywide, no-fault evictions, definition of owner, attorney fees, and no late fees.

Public Health Ad Hoc Committee Created

While COVID-19 health measures will remain in place for the foreseeable future, Board Chair Andersen proposed the creation of an ad hoc Public Health Committee that will weekly with county health department officials.

The committee that will consist of Burgis and Board Chair and District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen of Danville. The committee’s key role is to be advisory to supervisors and Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Christopher Farnitano who will retain ultimate authority on health issues.

“This is not meant to replace the health officer’s directive,” said Supervisor Mitchoff. “There’s been some concern about communication. People are getting frustrated.”

By Antioch Police Department

Even with all of the crazy things going on in our country, we are continuing to bring top-notch police officers to our agency to serve and protect our fine community! Please let us introduce Officer Bill Whitaker:

Bill was born in Tennessee and raised in San Jose. He graduated from Archbishop Mitty High School where he played baseball. Bill graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from San Jose State University and began his career in Law Enforcement.

Bill comes to Antioch with 18 years of Law Enforcement experience and has held specialty positions as a Crime Scene Investigator, Field Training Officer, Canine Handler, member of the Gang Unit, EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations) Instructor, and Background Investigator. Bill also recently earned a master’s degree in Criminal Justice.

Bill is married to his beautiful and amazing wife Julie, and they have two kids, Alexa and Brady.

Fun Fact: Bill retired his K9 partner “Kodiak” who was trained as a patrol canine and was one of the only sworn dual purpose accelerant detection Canines in Northern California.

We weren’t able to our normal public swearing-in for Bill and his family (we are still practicing our social distancing), so if you see Bill out in the community, please give him and extra hearty wave (from six-feet away, of course)! Welcome to Antioch, Bill!

According to Police Chief Tammany Brooks, that brings the total sworn officers on the Antioch force to 113. “And we have another graduating the academy next Friday. So, on May 4 we’ll be at 114,” he added.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

By Antioch Unified School District

We have good news to share!!

Any AUSD student who signed up for an Advanced Placement (AP) exam this school year will have their exam costs paid in full by Antioch USD. This decision was the result of our awareness that due to COVID-19 many students may have stressors – including, but not limited to, not having the same level of access or support for exam preparation due to the virus and school closures. We want our students to take the exams as we feel the experience of the exam itself is a college-readiness activity.

However, we understand that many may be hesitant to move forward with their exams and seek refunds due to feeling they may not be prepared. By picking up all costs, students can now confidently take the exams, knowing that if they do not achieve their desired scores, their families have not come out of pocket for their efforts, thus eliminating unnecessary pressure or worries.

Please note that the refund process for families who have already paid is under way. We ask for your patience as it may take a bit longer than usual to process the anticipated $50,000 in refunds due to the current closure and limited staffing. However, please know that your refund is on the way and we wish you the very best on your exam.

We are rooting for you and you’ve got this!! #WeAreAUSD

By Jimmy Lee, Director of Public Affairs, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff

35-year-old Adam Ortega, a transient in Brentwood, was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility at about 10 AM on Friday, April 17, 2020. He was booked for the offenses requested by the Brentwood police, possession of a dangerous weapon and probation violation. (See related articles, here, here and here)

Because of the Judicial Council of California’s mandatory emergency rule of zero bail for misdemeanors and non-violent/non-serious felonies, both of the alleged offenses committed by Ortega were zero bail. He was later cite released. (See related article)

“I like most California Sheriffs believe the Judicial Council’s decision to implement $0 bail for a wide range of criminal offenses was irresponsible, unnecessary and an overreaction,” said Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston. “A state-wide solution to local issues is almost never good policy – that is certainly the case here. People who commit offenses against others should be held accountable, COVID-19 or not.”

By Antioch Police Department

Earlier this morning, Monday, April 20, 2020, an alert citizen found one of our officers and alerted him to some people that seemed to be out of place at the Chase Bank on Delta Fair Blvd. While some bank patrons appeared to be there for their normal business, these gentlemen appeared to be attempting a rather large transaction……….of the entire ATM………with a van, chain, and sledgehammers!

Sure enough, as our officers arrived and told the would-be thieves that their transaction was being declined, three subjects fled on foot in all directions. Two of the bandits were quickly caught, but unfortunately, one managed to slip away. We are confident, however, that through leads we’ve developed, we will be able to identify and prosecute the third culprit.

As if that wasn’t enough to this story, as we were cleaning up the mess these gentlemen left behind, we then had the owner of the van being used in this attempted heist show up. He lived nearby, and to add to the list of charges our failed thieves are facing, it turns out the van being used was also stolen from a nearby apartment complex to be used in this caper.

We are happy to report both subjects arrested will be facing charges ranging from vehicle theft, to attempted grand theft, to various probation violations. They were unsuccessful in getting any money from the bank, and we were able to reunite the van with its owner! To wrap up this bizarre story, it all started with a citizen who saw something and said something!! We can’t thank you enough for alerting us to this case and helping us to catch the would-be thieves!!