BILL NUMBER: AB 2055	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member De La Torre

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   An act to amend Section 1256 of the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to unemployment insurance, and making an appropriations
therefor.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2055, as introduced, De La Torre. Unemployment insurance:
benefits: eligibility: domestic partners.
   Existing law provides for the payment of unemployment compensation
benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault
of their own. Existing law specifies that an individual is
disqualified from receiving benefits if the Director of Employment
Development finds that he or she left his or her most recent work
voluntarily without cause or that he or she has been discharged for
misconduct connected with his or her most recent work. Under existing
law, an individual 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
impracticable to commute to the employment, and specifies that, for
purposes of those provisions, "spouse" includes a person to whom
marriage is imminent.
   This bill would specify that, for purposes of those provisions
governing eligibility for benefits, "domestic partner" also includes
a person to whom domestic partnership, as described, is imminent.
Because the bill would provide for additional amounts payable for
unemployment benefits from the Unemployment Fund, a continuously
appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 1256 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
   1256.  An individual is disqualified for unemployment compensation
benefits if the director 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 connected with his or her most recent
work.
   An individual is presumed to have been discharged for reasons
other than misconduct in connection with his or her work and not to
have voluntarily left his or her work without good cause unless his
or her employer has given written notice to the contrary to the
department as provided in Section 1327, setting forth facts
sufficient to overcome the presumption. The presumption provided by
this section is rebuttable.
   An individual whose employment is terminated under the compulsory
retirement provisions of a collective bargaining agreement to which
the employer is a party, shall not be deemed to have left his or her
work without good cause.
   An individual 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. For purposes of this
section "spouse" includes a person to whom marriage is imminent 
, and "domestic partner" includes a person to whom a domestic
partnership, as described in Section 297 of the Family Code, is
imminent  .
   An individual may be deemed to have left his or her most recent
work with good cause if he or she leaves employment to protect his or
her children, or himself or herself, from domestic violence abuse.
   An individual shall be deemed to have left his or her most recent
work with good cause if he or she elects to be laid off in place of
an employee with less seniority pursuant to a provision in a
collective bargaining agreement that provides that an employee with
more seniority may elect to be laid off in place of an employee with
less seniority when the employer has decided to lay off employees.