BILL NUMBER: SB 1211	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 19, 2010
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 12, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 29, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 14, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 28, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 8, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 7, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 22, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Romero and Dutton
   (Coauthor: Senator Liu)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Hagman and Portantino)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   An act to amend Section 1379 of, and to add Section 1375.7 to, the
Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1211, Romero. Unemployment insurance: benefits: eligibility:
overpayments: elected officials.
   Under existing law, any person who receives an overpayment of
unemployment compensation benefits is liable for the amount overpaid.
Existing law also permits the Director of Employment Development to
take specified steps to recover overpayment of unemployment
compensation benefits and unemployment compensation disability
benefits, including filing a civil action against the liable person
within one year after certain actions have been taken. Existing law
also permits the director to initiate summary judgment proceedings
against a liable person to recover overpayment of unemployment
compensation benefits due to fraud, misrepresentation, or willful
nondisclosure on the part of the recipient.
   This bill would require the Director of Employment Development to
find an overpayment of unemployment benefits where the individual who
received them was an elected official whose claim was based solely
on income received as an elected official. This bill would permit the
director, in addition to filing a civil action against the liable
person for the overpayment amount, to initiate summary judgment
proceedings against such a person to recover these overpayment
amounts, as provided.
   Existing law requires every employer, with specified exceptions,
to pay contributions to the Unemployment Fund at specified rates, for
the purpose of funding unemployment insurance benefits for eligible
unemployed workers. Existing law defines "employment" for those
purposes and, with respect to certain public entities, exempts from
that definition certain services performed by an individual in the
exercise of his or her duties as an elected official.
   This bill would require the Employment Development Department, by
July 1, 2011, to adopt regulations to clarify that the
above-described provision governing eligibility for unemployment
compensation excludes elected officials from coverage under the
unemployment insurance compensation system for purposes of benefit
eligibility. The bill would also require the department to revise
language in a specified California employment guide with regard to
the exclusion of elected officials from unemployment insurance
coverage and benefit eligibility, as specified.



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

  SECTION 1.  Section 1375.7 is added to the Unemployment Insurance
Code, to read:
   1375.7.  The director shall find that an individual has been
overpaid unemployment benefits where the individual was an elected
official and the individual's unemployment insurance claim was based
on income solely derived from his or her employment as an elected
official. An individual who is liable pursuant to this section shall
not be eligible for waiver of the overpayment pursuant to Section
1375. In the event of an unemployment insurance claim based on more
than one source of income, if the base period of a new claim includes
any wage credits earned as an elected official pursuant to Section
634.5, the individual shall be liable for any amount of unemployment
insurance benefits overpaid as a result of a recomputation to remove
the base period wage credits earned as an elected official. In that
event, the provisions of Section 1375 shall not apply to this section
with respect to the wage credits earned as an elected official.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1379 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended
to read:
   1379.  The director, subject to this article, may do any or all of
the following in the recovery of overpayments of unemployment
compensation benefits:
   (a) File a civil action against the liable person for the recovery
of the amount of the overpayment within one year after any of the
following, or, in cases where the individual has been overpaid
benefits due to fraud, misrepresentation, or nondisclosure as
described in Section 1375.1, or where the director has found an
overpayment pursuant to Section 1375.7, within three years of any of
the following:
   (1) The mailing or personal service of the notice of overpayment
determination if the person affected does not file an appeal to an
administrative law judge.
   (2) The mailing of the decision of the administrative law judge if
the person affected does not initiate a further appeal to the
appeals board.
   (3) The date of the decision of the appeals board.
   (b) Initiate proceedings for a summary judgment against the liable
person. However, this subdivision applies only where the director
has found, pursuant to Section 1375, that the overpayment may not be
waived because it was due to fraud, misrepresentation, or willful
nondisclosure on the part of the recipient or where the director has
found an overpayment pursuant to Section 1375.7. The director may,
not later than three years after the overpayment became final, file
with the clerk of the proper court in the county from which the
overpayment of benefits was paid or in the county in which the
claimant resides, a certificate containing all of the following:
   (1) The amount due, including any assessment made under Section
1375.1, plus interest from the date that the initial determination of
overpayment was made pursuant to Section 1376.
   (2) A statement that the director has complied with all the
provisions of this article prior to the filing of the certificate.
   (3) A request that judgment be entered against the liable person
in the amount set forth in the certificate.
   The clerk, immediately upon the filing of the certificate, shall
enter a judgment for the State of California against the liable
person in the amount set forth in the certificate.
   For the purposes of this subdivision only, an overpayment is final
and due and payable after any of the following:
   (A) The liable person has not filed an appeal pursuant to Section
1377.
   (B) The liable person has filed an appeal to the administrative
law judge and a decision of an administrative law judge has become
final.
   (C) The liable person has filed an appeal to the appeals board and
the decision of the appeals board has become final because the
liable person has not sought judicial review within the six-month
period provided by Section 410.
   (c) Reduce or vacate a summary judgment by filing a certificate to
that effect with the clerk of the proper court.
   (d) Offset the amount of the overpayment received by the liable
person against any amount of benefits to which he or she may become
entitled under this division within six years of the date of the
mailing or personal service of the notice of overpayment
determination.
  SEC. 3.  Not later than July 1, 2011, the Employment Development
Department shall adopt regulations to clarify that paragraph (1) of
subdivision (c) of Section 634.5 of the Unemployment Insurance Code
excludes elected officials from coverage under the unemployment
insurance compensation system for purposes of benefit eligibility.
The department shall also revise current language in the California
Employer's Guide to make clear that an elected official is not
eligible to collect unemployment insurance benefits based on income
earned from his or her service as an elected official.