BILL NUMBER: SB 1438 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senator DeSaulnier
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 53 of the Labor
add Section 1326.5 to the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating
to employment unemployment insurance .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1438, as amended, DeSaulnier. Employment.
Unemployment insurance.
Existing law authorizes the Director of the Employment Development
Department to adopt regulations for the administration of
unemployment insurance benefit claims.
Existing law requires an administrative agency to meet procedural
requirements, as specified, before an agency adopts, amends, or
repeals an administrative regulation.
This bill would authorize the Employment Development Department to
temporarily suspend unemployment insurance regulations that slow the
disbursement of unemployment insurance benefits. This bill would
also require the department and the Bureau of State Audits to publish
a study of unemployment insurance regulations that includes a list
of regulations to be suspended and to present the findings of the
study and the list of regulations to the relevant legislative
committees. This bill would also authorize the Legislature to extend,
by statute, the suspension of any or all of the suspended
regulations.
Existing law defines the phrase "head of the department" to refer
to the Director of Industrial Relations in specified circumstances.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and
declares:
(a) California is facing an immediate, persistent, and significant
unemployment crisis throughout the state.
(b) The dramatic increase in unemployment has placed significant
and unprecedented strains on the Unemployment Insurance branch of the
Employment Development Department, leading to delays in serving
unemployed workers and the delivery of unemployment insurance
benefits.
(c) The crisis of chronic unemployment and service challenges
facing the Employment Development Department constitute an emergency
requiring immediate action. This emergency requires granting the
Employment Development Department the authority to temporarily
suspend regulations that would result in improved services and
benefit delivery for California's unemployed workforce.
SEC. 2. Section 1326.5 is added to the
Unemployment Insurance Code , to read:
1326.5. (a) (1) Within 45 days after the enactment of this
section, the Employment Development Department and the Bureau of
State Audits shall publish a study of unemployment insurance
regulations, that shall include a list of unemployment insurance
regulations to be suspended to increase the rate of delivery of
unemployment insurance benefits. The department shall not include in
the list of regulations to be suspended, an unemployment insurance
regulation if the suspension of the regulation would lead to an
immediate and foreseeable increase in criminal unemployment insurance
fraud.
(2) Notwithstanding Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) and
Article 6 (commencing with Section 11349) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, upon publication of
the study, the department shall suspend the unemployment insurance
regulations listed in the study pursuant to this section for 30 days.
(b) (1) Within 14 days of the publication of the study, the
Employment Development Department and the Bureau of State Audits
shall present the following to the relevant legislative committees:
(A) The findings of the study.
(B) A complete list of the unemployment insurance regulations
suspended pursuant to this section, and the basis for the suspension
of each suspended regulation.
(2) The presentation of the study pursuant to paragraph (1) shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(c) (1) After the presentation of the Employment Development
Department and the Bureau of State Audits, the Legislature, by
statute, may require that any or all of the unemployment regulation
suspensions continue for an additional 335 days.
(2) On an annual basis, the Legislature may, by statute, further
extend the suspension of any or all unemployment insurance
regulations suspended pursuant to this section for 365 days.
(d) This section shall remain in effect until January 1, 2015, or
the date that the Director of the Employment Development Department
determines that the average seasonally adjusted state unemployment
rate reaches 9 percent or less for four consecutive quarters,
whichever occurs first. If the director makes the determination
contained in this subdivision, the director shall transmit that
determination to the Director of the Office of Administrative Law,
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Senate, and the Chief
Clerk of the Assembly.
SECTION 1. Section 53 of the Labor Code is
amended to read:
53. Whenever in Section 1001 or in Part 1 (commencing with
Section 11000) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code "head
of the department" or similar designation occurs, the phrase shall
mean, for the purposes of this code, the director, except that in
respect to matters which by the express provisions of this code are
committed to or retained under the jurisdiction of the Division of
Workers' Compensation, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, the
Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, the Occupational
Safety and Health Appeals Board, or the Industrial Welfare Commission
the designation shall mean the Division of Workers' Compensation,
the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation,
the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the State Compensation
Insurance Fund, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board,
the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board, or the Industrial
Welfare Commission, as the case may be.