Assemblymember Marie WaldronSpecial to Valley NewsThe crisis at the Employment Development Department (EDD) is continuing. Many claimants had to wait months for their benefits, thousands have had their finances devastated, while others filed phony claims that reportedly defrauded the state of over $30 billion.The executive branch administers state agencies but has taken no significant steps toward reforming EDD. The Legislative Branch has stepped into the breech, and I’m very happy that my office has been able to help thousands of constituents. Since March 2020 when the shutdowns began, we have handled over 2100 EDD cases, compared to just 4 in all of 2019. Over the past months, calls/emails regarding new EDD cases sometimes averaged over 100 a week. We’re still opening 50
