JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Jay Nixon said he is “pleased’ regarding the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling upholding his veto of 2015’s House Bill 150.

House Bill 150 would have cut the maximum duration of unemployment insurance benefits from 20 weeks to 13 weeks for unemployed Missourians. House Bill 150 would also have reduced unemployment insurance benefits for those Missourians who receive severance pay upon losing their job.

The governor’s veto of similar legislation in 2014 was sustained.

“I am pleased with the Supreme Court ruling,” Nixon stated in a news release. “The judges’ ruling clarifies the law limiting when the Legislature may vote to override a governor’s veto and is good news for thousands of Missourians who were wrongfully denied the unemployment benefits they had earned.”

The governor said the Missouri Department of Labor will work to make sure people get the unemployment benefits they have earned.

Missouri’s average weekly unemployment insurance benefit of $243.63 ranks 43rd out of all 50 states. Missouri’s restored cap of 20 weeks of assistance places Missouri among eight states that pay less than the national norm of 26 weeks, while only about one third of Missourians who apply for unemployment insurance benefits actually receive them.