Figuring out jobless benefits

With the Senate still unable to extend jobless benefits, lots of folks in California are starting to lose coverage. But how many? And what coverage will be lost? Given the layers of benefits available, both from the state and the feds, it's not easy coming up with a number. Consider this line from the Employment Development Department:

Without further Congressional action on the issue, all of the nearly 1.5 million claimants currently certifying for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits in California will potentially lose access to extended unemployment benefits.

Huh? Determining when and whether someone loses benefits depends on how long they've been unemployed - specifically where they're positioned in the multi-stage process. So far, benefits checks have stopped for at least 260,000 Californians. SF Chronicle columnist Kathleen Pender tries to clarify:

In California, people who are eligible for unemployment benefits receive up to 26 weeks of regular state benefits. Until federal funding ran out, people who exhausted their regular state benefits and were still eligible for unemployment could receive four consecutive rounds of federal extended benefits: The first tier was up to 20 weeks, the second up to 14, the third up to 13 and the fourth up to six. When the fourth ran out, they could move on to a final round of benefits with special rules known as Fed-Ed, for up to 20 weeks. That's a grand total of 99 weeks of unemployment. Federal funding for all four tiers of extended benefits and Fed-Ed ran out at the end of May.

So the people who are receiving regular state benefits (up to 26 weeks) will continue receiving them until they run out, but then they get nothing further. People who receive one of the four tiers of federal extended benefits will continue receiving that tier until it is exhausted, but they can't move on to the next tier. People who receive Fed-Ed will receive no more checks, no matter where they are in that round.