TOWARD AN INCLUSIVE UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FUND: REIMAGINING INCOME REPLACEMENT IN CALIFORNIA

Unemployment Insurance (VI)--ordinarily an unimposing social policy--emerges in times of crisis as the boogeyman of financial dependence. Yet the program has become a foundational benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic and remains a vital safety net for crises to come. It is therefore imperative that UI broaden its reach to all who face the economic precarity of unemployment. To that end, this Note advocates for the creation of a state UI fund capable of servicing workers without documentation and provides the legal framework to do so. It first reflects on the eligibility boundaries of relief programs and the history of exclusionary benefit regimes. It then examines UI's legal and financial mechanics, looking backward at the program s formation, and forward toward the consequences of California's insolvency crisis. This analysis exposes UI's greatest limitations, all products of its technical design.