BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1472
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    SB 1472 (Leno) - As Amended:  April 20, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                             InsuranceVote:12-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the Employment Development Department (EDD)  
          to develop and implement an outreach plan regarding the current  
          law Work Share Program. This bill requires the plan to include  
          statewide outreach to chambers of commerce, employer advisory  
          councils, and small business advisory councils. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No direct fiscal impact to EDD to comply with the requirements  
          of this bill. This bill generally codifies current Work Share  
          Program marketing and outreach efforts. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This bill requires EDD to develop and implement an  
            outreach plan to increase participation in the Work Share  
            Program administered under current law. The Work Share Program  
            was the first of its kind and was established more than 30  
            years ago. The program allows for the payment of partial  
            unemployment benefits to avoid the burdens created by layoffs  
            and to spare employers the expense of recruiting, hiring, and  
            training new employees. This bill, because it is aligned with  
            the current law program, does not increase workload.  

           2)Background  . Under the Work Share Program an employee who is  
            partially unemployed (working less than full-time) may be  
            eligible to receive a reduced amount of unemployment insurance  
            benefits if the employer participates in Work Share Program  
            which allows for the payment of partial unemployment benefits  
            to workers whose hours have been reduced by at least 10%. In  
            2009 the Work Share Program more than doubled to 6,400  








                                                                  SB 1472
                                                                  Page  2

            employers and more than 200,000 employees filing claims.  
            Statewide, there 2.3 million unemployed individuals. About  
            two-thirds of the unemployed receive state or federal  
            unemployment benefits.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081