BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1514
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Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Tom Daly, Chair
AB 1514
Committee on Insurance - As Amended March 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Employment Development Department: reports
SUMMARY: Makes minor technical changes to the California
Training Benefits Program (CTB) and updates EDD reporting
requirements. Specifically, this bill:
1)Updates references to outdated federal workforce statutes in
sections governing the California Training Benefits (CTB)
program.
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2)Requires the Employment Development Department (EDD) to
automatically qualify individuals participating in an employer
sponsored training program for benefits through the CTB
program.
3)Requires the Employment Development Department (EDD) to
automatically qualify individuals participating in an
apprenticeship program approved by either the state or federal
government.
4)Provides that benefits granted through the CTB program shall
be reduced by the amount of any other unemployment insurance
benefits for which the individual is eligible during the
period of training.
5)Eliminates the requirement that claimants receiving CTB
benefits have their weekly certification of benefits signed by
their training provider.
6)Updates existing EDD reporting requirements.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to workers who
are laid off or leave their jobs for good cause.
2)Requires recipients of UI benefits to answer the following
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questions for each week of benefits claimed:
a. Were you were healthy enough to work?
b. Were you available to accept full-time work?
c. Did you look for work?
d. Did you refuse any work?
e. Did you begin attending school or training?
f. Did you earn any money?
3)Establishes the CTB within the UI program to provide workers
with extended unemployment benefits if they are enrolled in an
approved training program.
FISCAL EFFECT: Undetermined
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose . The bill makes the following minor changes to the
California Training Benefits (CTB) program:
a. Updates reference to Workforce Investment Act which
was superseded by the recently enacted Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act.
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b. Streamlines the approval process for individuals in
apprenticeship training and for journey-level members of
employer or trade associations. These individuals are
typically approved for participation under current law,
but this bill would streamline the process by adding them
to the "automatic" approval category.
c. Clarifies the calculations for CTB Training
Extensions by clarifying that training extension benefits
cannot be paid when other types of UI benefits are
available.
d. Streamlines the process to verify an individual's
ongoing attendance in a training program by eliminating
the requirement for a signature from the training
instructor on every bi-weekly claim form. This will
allow claimants receiving CTB benefits to certify for
benefits online or by phone.
2)Training Benefits . The CTB program allows unemployed
Californians who need further job training to be competitive
in the California labor market to receive UI benefits without
complying with the usual requirement to look for other work
and receive up to one year of benefits. The CTB program
provides financial support to individuals while they are
participating in a qualified job training program instead of
providing partial wage replacement while the individual looks
for work.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
AB 1514
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Employment Development Department (sponsor)
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by:Paul Riches / INS. / (916) 319-2086