The General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1219 proposes to amend the existing law regarding unemployment compensation fraud by increasing the threshold amount that determines whether an individual is guilty of a felony. Specifically, the bill replaces the current threshold of five hundred dollars with a new threshold of two thousand dollars. Under the revised law, individuals who knowingly make false statements or fail to disclose material facts to obtain unemployment benefits will be guilty of a class A misdemeanor if the amount involved is two thousand dollars or less, and guilty of a class D felony if the amount exceeds two thousand dollars.

Additionally, the bill modifies the language used in the statute to make it more gender-neutral, changing references from "himself or herself" to "such person" and from "his or her" to "such person's." The act is set to take effect on October 1, 2025, and it aims to provide a clearer and more equitable framework for prosecuting unemployment compensation fraud.