BILL ANALYSIS AB 2055 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE Jose Solorio, Chair AB 2055 (De La Torre) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010 SUBJECT : Unemployment insurance benefits: domestic partners SUMMARY : Allows a person that imminently will be in a registered domestic partnership to become eligible to receive unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Specifically, this bill: 1)Defines "domestic partner" to include a person to whom a registered domestic partnership is imminent and to be deemed to have left their work with good cause if he or she accompanies their intended domestic partner to a place from which it is impractical to commute. 2)Allows a person to whom a domestic partnership is imminent, as defined above, to become eligible to receive UI benefits. 3)Permits an employer to submit facts to EDD disclosing that the UI claimant left employment to accompany his or her imminent domestic partner to join him or her at a place from which it is impractical to commute. 4)Provides that an employer's account will not be charged for the UI benefits received by a former employee if the UI claimant left employment to accompany his or her imminent domestic partner to join him or her at place from which it is impractical to commute. EXISTING LAW : 1)Disqualifies a person for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits if the Director of the Employment Development (EDD) finds that he or she left his or her most recent work voluntarily without good cause or that he or she has been discharged for misconduct. 2)Provides that a person may be deemed to have left his or her most recent work with good cause if he or she leaves employment to accompany his or her spouse or domestic partner to a place from which it is impractical to commute to the employment. AB 2055 Page 2 3)Permits an employer who is entitled to receive notice that a person has filed a claim of regular UI benefits or extended UI benefits to submit to EDD facts disclosing that the claimant left employment voluntarily or left due to specified circumstances. One of the circumstances is that the claimant left employment to accompany his or her spouse or domestic partner to join him at a place from which it is impractical to commute to the employment, to which a transfer of the claimant by the employer is not available. 4)Provides that if a UI claimant left their employment voluntarily or under specified circumstances, then the benefits paid to the claimant shall not be charged to the account of the employer. One of these circumstances is that the claimant left the employer's employ to accompany his or her spouse or domestic partner to join him at place from which it is impractical to commute. 5)Defines "spouse" for the above purposes to include a person to whom marriage is imminent. FISCAL EFFECT : Undetermined. COMMENTS : 1)Purpose. The purpose of this bill is to preserve the family unit by providing the same unemployment benefits to imminent domestic partners that married couples, registered domestic partners, and persons who will imminently marry, currently receive. 2)Background. According to the author and the bill sponsor, Equality California, existing law provides that persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own can receive unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. UI benefits are available to an employee when he or she leaves his or her job for good cause, including when he or she leaves the area to accompany their spouse or registered domestic partner. As defined in existing law, the term "spouse" includes individuals/couples where marriage is imminent. Therefore, soon-to-be married couples can also receive UI benefits. However, the law does not cover imminent domestic partners. The Employment Development Department reports the following: AB 2055 Page 3 In 1988, the state Supreme Court ruled in Altaville Drug Stores v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and EDD that an employer's reserve account may be relieved of charges when a person who is about to be married leaves work to join his or her fianc?e, the couple is later married, the finance lives in a place from which it is impractical for the claimant to commute to the former employment, the new place is one to which the claimant could not be transferred, and the spouse or imminent spouse has secured employment at the new location. The state Supreme Court also addressed the relationship of Section 1032 (employer accounts for purposes of UI payments) to Section 1256 (UI eligibility) of the Unemployment Insurance Code and held that . . . "the purpose of the 1979 amendment to Section 1032 was to remedy the unfair situation imposed on an employer of a "domestic quit" whose employee left work with good cause to follow his or her spouse. The situation is similarly unfair when an employee leaves with good cause to follow an "imminent spouse." Also in 1988, AB 3602 (Chapter 781, Statutes of 1988) amended Section 1256 by providing that an individual may be deemed to have left his or her most recent work with good cause if he or she leaves to accompany or join his or her spouse or "imminent" spouse to a place from which it is impractical to commute to the employment. In 2001, AB 25 (Chapter 893, Statutes of 2001) authorized the establishment of registered domestic partnerships and amended Section 1256 of the Unemployment Insurance Code to provide that a domestic partner is equal to a spouse for purposes of UI eligibility and may leave his or her employment if he or she leaves to accompany or join the domestic partner to a place from which it is impractical to commute. Sections 1030 and 1032, which are also the subject of this bill, were amended to allow an individual employer's account to not be charged when an employee leaves due to this reason. 3)Arguments in Support. The author and sponsor state that this bill will preserve the family unit by providing the same UI benefits to imminent domestic partners that married couples, registered domestic partners, and soon-to-be married couples currently receive. By guaranteeing this right to imminent domestic partners, this bill will bring parity to the law, AB 2055 Page 4 family unity will be preserved, and all committed relationships will be given equal opportunity to unemployment benefits. The California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, states that in California's current economic crisis, with unemployment at 12.5%, and long-term unemployment (i.e., out of work for 6 months or longer) up 170% from last year, people are searching for jobs in every corner of the state and are more willing than ever to move for work. 4)Technical Note: Legislation Affecting the Same Section of Law. This bill affects one section of law (Section 1256 of the Unemployment Insurance Code) that is proposed to be amended by another bill of this Session (AB 2364, Nava) that has been approved by this Committee. While there is no policy conflict between the two bills, it will important to monitor the status of these bills if they both move forward in order to avoid any chaptering out problems. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support Equality California (Sponsor) American Civil Liberties Union California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO California Teachers Association Consumer Attorneys of California Opposition None received. Analysis Prepared by : Manny Hernandez / INS. / (916) 319-2086