BILL ANALYSIS �
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Date of Hearing: April 2, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Henry T. Perea, Chair
AB 1556 (Perea) - As Amended: March 17, 2014
SUBJECT : Unemployment Insurance
SUMMARY : Codifies a number of reforms to the policies and
practices in the unemployment insurance (UI) program.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Employment Development Department (EDD) to
translate key documents and publications for both the UI
program and state disability insurance (SDI) program into
seven additional languages.
2)Requires EDD to translate website pages providing information
regarding applying for and receiving UI benefits into seven
additional languages.
3)Requires the EDD director to periodically review the UI
program to identify policies and practices that delay benefit
payments, increase EDD workload, and provide little or no
value in identifying or preventing fraud in the UI program.
4)Requires the EDD director to report the results of the first
review to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2015.
5)Prohibits EDD from automatically halting the payment of UI
benefits and requiring a redetermination of eligibility when a
claimant begins a training or education program.
6)Prohibits EDD from automatically halting the payment of UI
benefits and requiring a redetermination of eligibility until
a claim certification form is more than 21 days late.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides unemployment insurance benefits to workers who are
laid off or leave their jobs for good cause.
2)Requires recipients of UI benefits to answer the following
questions for each week of benefits claimed:
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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)Requires EDD to publish informational material in both English
and Spanish.
FISCAL EFFECT : Undetermined
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose . On November 6, 2013 the Assembly Insurance Committee
held an oversight hearing to address problems created in the
UI program associated with the rollout of a new computer
system. Recommendations were made in the hearing to help EDD
improve several aspects of the UI program. A follow up letter
with those action items was sent to EDD. EDD has implemented
some of those action items and expects to take further action,
specifically call center improvements, by the end of June.
This bill ensures that key policy changes implemented by EDD
are reflected in statute, and requires that EDD work to
increase the efficiency of the UI program on an ongoing basis.
2)UI Program Performance . The UI program has struggled with
poor service levels for many years. The program has failed to
meet key federal performance standards, including timeliness
of payment standards, for over a decade. However, UI program
performance plummeted in September 2013 after EDD encountered
problems after deploying a new computer system. Hundreds of
thousands of claims were delayed and the EDD call centers were
overwhelmed with millions of calls from affected claimants.
Ongoing problems associated with the deployment of the new
computer system and continuously declining staffing levels
left the program staggering under the weight of the added
workload.
3)Budget Proposal . On February 7, 2014, the Secretary of the
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Labor and Workforce Agency (Agency) directed EDD to take a
range of actions to address performance problems in the UI
program. A letter from the Agency Secretary to EDD outlined
the Administration's plan for addressing the problems with the
UI program. The plan includes:
Hiring 280 additional staff, starting March 1, 2014
Retaining 250 permanent intermittent staff currently
in place until June 30, 2015
Continue overtime pay
Rehiring up to 50 program staff that are trained and
can provide UI services immediately
Hiring 155 program staff to fill existing vacancies
Implementing virtual hold/automatic call
notification technology for callers to EDD's UI system to
improve customer service
Obtaining additional information technology
expertise at EDD
1)Language Barriers . The American Community Survey reports that
more than 43% of Californians speak a language other than
English at home. The same survey reports that nearly 20% of
Californians report that they speak English "less than very
well." EDD is pursuing a "self-service" strategy to better
manage the UI workload, but it has not provided many of the
materials that claimants can use to navigate the self-service
options in languages other than English and Spanish. In order
for EDD to execute their self-service strategy it needs to
make more of its materials and website available in more
languages. EDD has committed to translating key forms and
explanatory materials in seven additional languages (existing
law already requires documents to be translated into Spanish).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Labor Federation
California School Employees Association
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Opposition
None received
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Analysis Prepared by : Paul Riches / INS. / (916) 319-2086