A New Jersey Senate committee has backed a bill to speed up the process of deciding appeals when residents are denied unemployment insurance benefits.

Sponsors of the measure say the months it's been taking to rule on an appeal is far too long for out-of-work residents.

New Jersey Labor Department officials say they are reducing the backlog of appeals but aren't certain just when they'll meet the federal standard for resolving cases within 45 days.

The department's chief of staff Fred Zavaglia says a dozen additional workers hired to handle the appeals should be on job by the end of the week.

He says the delay in hearing the appeals is a complicated problem that's affected by technology, records storage, and how cases are heard.

"It is not simply a matter of throwing bodies at a backlog because at some point you're going to have less backlog and lots of bodies."

Senator Dick Codey says the state hasn't moved quickly enough.

"When the federal government is paying the money to hire these people, get their butts in here, get them qualified, get these claims resolved, and get some money into the hands and the pockets of the people who are struggling.”

The legislation would make the state pay a claimant's unemployment benefits if an appeal is not decided within 60 days. The money would have to be repaid to the state if the claim proves fraudulent.