02/10/2000 01:40 PM Senate L&C

                 SB 222-EMPLOYMENT SECURITY ACT                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
CHAIRMAN MACKIE announced SB 222 to be up for consideration.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MR. RON HALL, Deputy Director, Employment Security Division, said                                                               
this bill is basically housekeeping.  Section 1 replaces the                                                                    
standard industrial clasification system with a North American                                                                  
industry classification system, a conformity issue with USDOL based                                                             
on a NAFTA code.  Section 2 also conforms to the NAFTA code's                                                                   
employer rate of contributions.  It won't have any effect on                                                                    
current employer rates, but it has a different rating system.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
Section 3 is a technical change to clarify that the potential                                                                   
disqualification for misconduct that applies only to the last                                                                   
period of employment held prior to filing for unemployment                                                                      
insurance benefits.  They are adding "last."  Right now if the                                                                  
issue comes up today, the Department sends out notices to employers                                                             
that aren't involved in the issue, they have a problem showing up                                                               
for the appeal hearing.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Section 4 amends the reference to training under 29 USC 16.51 -                                                                 
16.58 JTPA to public law 105.220, the Work Force Investment Act                                                                 
(WIA).  JTPA is closing out in July 2000 when the Work Force                                                                    
Investment Act takes over and this allows continued payments of                                                                 
approved training under the WIA.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
Section 5 is changed to make benefit years mutually exclusive and                                                               
eliminate confusion in determining which benefit year or week will                                                              
be filed.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR KELLY asked him to explain the benefit week and how it's                                                                
different.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MR. CHUCK BLANKENSHIP, Assistant Director, Employment Security                                                                  
Division, said the basis to the proposed change to the definition                                                               
of a benefit week is that the current definition allows for some                                                                
overlap.  Benefits are based on a week by week eligibility Sunday                                                               
through Saturday.  Current definition of a benefit year is a period                                                             
of time during which a claimant can file for the benefit                                                                        
entitlement begins with whatever day they file their claim and ends                                                             
one year later.  If they file on a Wednesday, it would end the                                                                  
following year on a Tuesday.  This raises an issues on the last                                                                 
week of that claim as it could actually fall in either benefit                                                                  
year. It has created a great deal of confusion both for the                                                                     
claimants and many hours and tens of thousands of dollars in                                                                    
programing because of this overlap of benefit years.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
A simple solution is the change in definition that says when you                                                                
file a claim, that week in which you file it, the effective date                                                                
would be Sunday and it would end 52 weeks later on a Saturday.                                                                  
Unfortunately, as they looked at calendars for the last several                                                                 
years, periodically when a calendar quarter begins on a Sunday,                                                                 
they get into a situation that can cause difficulty in the                                                                      
subsequent claim, if the claimant has to file another year.  That's                                                             
the reason they had to come up with a 53 week benefit year.  This                                                               
has only happened 10 times in a 20 year period, but when they                                                                   
started looking at potential scenarios, they knew they would have                                                               
to have some way of dealing with it.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
If a claimant filed on October 1, 2000 or any time that week, under                                                             
the proposed legislation, they would make it effective October 1,                                                               
the Sunday of that week.  That claim would end in 2001 on September                                                             
29 which is a Saturday.  The claim filed in the following week,                                                                 
should the claimant need a second benefit year, would begin on                                                                  
September 30 which is a Sunday.  The qualifying period of wages                                                                 
used to determine eligibility for an unemployment claim is                                                                      
predicated on the calendar quarter in which the claim was filed.                                                                
This situation would cause them to be double using wage credits                                                                 
because of the overlapping in the qualifying base period for a                                                                  
claim.  This is the only reason for the 53 week exception.  As a                                                                
general rule, the claim would start on Sunday and end 52 week later                                                             
on Saturday.  There would be no confusion of where that                                                                         
transitional week would fall.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MR. HALL explained that section 6 adds a transitional provision in                                                              
uncodified law to address benefit years that will begin under the                                                               
old definition, but will expire under the new definition.                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
Sections 7 and 8 speak to the effective date.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR KELLY asked if he anticipated passage of this bill                                                                      
resulting in more benefits being paid.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
MR. HALL said it just cleans up technicalities.  There is an                                                                    
expense to the state, but the expense is mostly to the claimant.                                                                
It's benficial to them to not use the same base period.  When their                                                             
claim ends and it's in the same base period they started with,                                                                  
there's a problem, especially if they haven't earned any additional                                                             
wages.  No, it won't add any claims to the pool.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
Number 3998                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR LEMAN moved to report SB 222 from committee with individual                                                             
recommendations.  There were no objections and it was so ordered.