AUSTIN – Leaving the long-term unemployed with a four-month gap between payments is unacceptable and any delays in providing their extended benefits will be fixed by the end of July, Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken said Friday.

Texas was about to become the slowest state in the nation to implement an additional 13 weeks of aid approved by Congress and the Legislature.

Workforce Commission staffers had reported this week that because of procedure and computer problems, it could take until November for those with unemployment benefits expiring this month to see another check.

The delay could have affected about 100,000 of the state's 350,000 jobless workers whose benefits would have expired between now and November.

"Apparently, there was going to be a four-month gap between those two periods. I informed our executive director that that was unacceptable. And I told him that we need to be operational by the end of the month," Pauken said.

Pauken said the agency's processing problems were first brought to his attention by The Dallas Morning News.

Staffers informed him Friday that the turnaround will be accomplished in two weeks, he said.

Shortcomings at the agency, which included 155,000 calls last week going unanswered, have come as Texas' unemployment rate has hit 7.5 percent – the highest in 16 years.

The state this week also requested borrowing $643 million from the federal government to cover a shortfall in unemployment funds to carry it through October.

"There was a misimpression that this wasn't being taken seriously by the commission," Pauken said of the possible gap in unemployment benefits. "It needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed quickly."

He said the agency will use any means necessary to get the extended benefits program up and running, including hiring outside contractors or temporary workers.

He also said the Department of Labor has loosened requirements implemented more than a quarter century ago, when records were kept on paper and verification of eligibility was done in person or over the phone instead of by computer.

"Whatever resources we have to add, we'll add them," Pauken said. "It should not be a major cost to the agency.

"The key thing is to get this thing done," he said.

Scott McCown, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an advocacy group for low-income Texans that helped raise the alarm over the delay, said the quick response by the workforce commissioners was "tremendous news for Texas families."

Texas has rarely suffered unemployment this high for this long, McCown said.

"These are the folks who are really up against the wall. Giving them money retroactively isn't going to help. They have to pay the utilities, the rent or the mortgage," he said.

Gov. Rick Perry said that his office, after learning of the problems this week, directed the commission to "find a solution to provide Texans with timely benefits."

And he said he's pleased with the outcome "without the months of delay that had initially been predicted."

Texas pays benefits to 31 percent of its jobless – a lower percentage than any other state except South Dakota, Labor Department statistics show.

Eligible workers generally are entitled to 26 weeks of unemployment, which amounts to about 35 percent of their former pay and is funded through taxes on employers.

The federal government passed emergency unemployment compensation providing an additional 33 weeks of benefits.

The latest extension of 13 weeks – coming on top of the 33 weeks – is for those who have been out of work for a year and can show they have applied and been willing to accept jobs below their previous employment status.

Starting Friday, the Texas Workforce Commission will send letters to eligible Texans with instructions on how to file for an extension of unemployment benefits.

A hotline also will be created to take the claims.

An agreement with the Labor Department will allow the commission to defer some federal requirements to qualify, avoiding months of delay, agency spokeswoman Ann Hatchitt said.