BILL NUMBER: AB 2778	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Insurance (Solorio (Chair), Blakeslee
(Vice Chair), Anderson, Carter, Hagman, Nava, and Niello)

                        MARCH 1, 2010

   An act to amend Section 3254 of the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to unemployment insurance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2778, as introduced, Committee on Insurance. Unemployment
insurance.
   Existing law provides for the payment of disability compensation
for the wage loss sustained by an individual unemployed because of
sickness or injury, and finances that compensation by means of
employee contributions at specified rates to the Disability Fund.
Existing law requires the Director of Employment Development to
approve any voluntary plan, subject to specified exceptions, for
disability if the director finds that there is at least one employee
and that specified requirements are met, including, among other
things, that the plan will be in effect for a period of not less than
one year, and, thereafter, continuously unless the director finds
that the employer or a majority of its employees employed in the
state covered by the plan have given notice of withdrawal from the
plan. The notice is required to be filed with the director and is
effective only on the anniversary of the effective date of the plan
next following the filing of the notice, but in any event not less
than 30 days from the time of the filing of the notice, except as
provided.
   This bill would extend from 30 to 60 days the time for filing the
above-described notice of withdrawal from the plan.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 3254 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
   3254.  The Director of Employment Development shall approve any
voluntary plan, except one filed pursuant to Section 3255, as to
which he or she finds that there is at least one employee in
employment and all of the following exist:
   (a) The rights afforded to the covered employees are greater than
those provided for in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2625),
including those provided for in Chapter 7 (commencing with Section
3300).
   (b) The plan has been made available to all of the employees of
the employer employed in this state or to all employees at any one
distinct, separate establishment maintained by the employer in this
state. "Employees" as used in this subdivision includes those
individuals in partial or other forms of short-time employment and
employees not in employment as the Director of Employment Development
shall prescribe by authorized regulations.
   (c) A majority of the employees of the employer employed in this
state or a majority of the employees employed at any one distinct,
separate establishment maintained by the employer in this state have
consented to the plan.
   (d) If the plan provides for insurance the form of the insurance
policies to be issued have been approved by the Insurance
Commissioner and are to be issued by an admitted disability insurer.
   (e) The employer has consented to the plan and has agreed to make
the payroll deductions required, if any, and transmit the proceeds to
the plan insurer, if any.
   (f) The plan provides for the inclusion of future employees.
   (g) The plan will be in effect for a period of not less than one
year and, thereafter, continuously unless the Director of Employment
Development finds that the employer or a majority of its employees
employed in this state covered by the plan have given notice of
withdrawal from the plan. The notice shall be filed in writing with
the Director of Employment Development and shall be effective only on
the anniversary of the effective date of the plan next following the
filing of the notice, but in any event not less than 30 days from
the time of the filing of the notice; except that the plan may be
withdrawn on the operative date of any law increasing the benefit
amounts provided by Sections 2653 and 2655 or the operative date of
any change in the rate of worker contributions as determined by
Section 984, if notice of the withdrawal from the plan is transmitted
to the Director of Employment Development not less than  30
  60  days prior to the operative date of that law
or change. If the plan is not withdrawn on the  30 
 60  days' notice because of the enactment of a law
increasing benefits or because of a change in the rate of worker
contributions as determined by Section 984, the plan shall be amended
to conform to that increase or change on the operative date of the
increase or change.
   (h) The amount of deductions from the wages of an employee in
effect for any plan shall not be increased on other than an
anniversary of the effective date of the plan except to the extent
that any increase in the deductions from the wages of an employee
allowed by Section 3260 permits that amount to exceed the amount of
deductions in effect.
   (i) The approval of the plan or plans will not result in a
substantial selection of risks adverse to the Disability Fund.