State law gives you 26 weeks of unemployment. The FEDERAL law that was passed when the economy collapsed provided up to an additional 73 weeks of unemployment (depending on the state you live in and the unemployment rate there). Thus, if you lived in a state with high unemployment, ie california, nevadam etc. you can get a total of 99 weeks of benefits. Congress has had to extend the time these benefits were available because when they first thougt up the scheme, they thought the economy would recover due to the stimulus. When that did not happen, they had to keep passing resolutions extending the program, NOT the number of weeks available. The max number of weeks has remained at 99 since they passed the program.
The 99 week federal law EXPIRED on November 30th, meaning anybody who was in one the FOUR tiers would be cut off as soon as their coverage in that tier ended. The new law just reinstates the 99 week rule for another 13 months, it does not add any benefits beyond the 99 weeks.
so after the 13 months does it go back down to 26 instead of 99??