SENATE FILE 303

BY  COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND BUSINESS RELATIONS

(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 1122)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to unemployment compensation extended benefits and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION EXTENDED BENEFIT INDICATORS.  Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of chapter 96, with respect to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after December 17, 2010, and ending four weeks prior to the last week for which the federal government funds one hundred percent of the cost of shareable extended unemployment compensation benefits and shareable regular unemployment compensation benefits as authorized by section 2005(a) of Tit. II of the federal Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act, of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-5, as amended, for the purposes of section 96.19, subsections 21 and 32, and section 96.29, subsections 4 and 5:
   1.  There is a state “on” indicator for a week ending on or before December 31, 2011, or any other date established in federal law permitting this provision if the average rate of total seasonally adjusted unemployment under chapter 96 for the period consisting of the most recent three months for which data for all states are published before the close of the week equaled or exceeded six and one-half percent and equaled or exceeded one hundred ten percent of the average of the rates for any or all of the corresponding three-month periods ending in the three preceding calendar years.
   2.  There is a state “off” indicator for a week only if, for the period consisting of the week and the immediately preceding twelve weeks, neither subsection 1 nor section 96.19, subsection 21 or 30, specify that there is an “on” indicator.
   3.  A “high unemployment period” means any period during which an extended benefit period would be in effect if subsection 1 were applied by substituting “eight percent” for “six and one half percent”. In a high unemployment period, section 96.29, subsection 4, shall be applied by substituting “eighty percent” for “fifty percent” under paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1) and “twenty” for “thirteen” under paragraph “a”, subparagraph (2).
   4.  For purposes of determining eligibility for extended unemployment compensation benefits under this Act, an individual’s eligibility period shall include any week which begins in accordance with both of the following:
   a.  After the date as of which the individual exhausts all rights to emergency unemployment compensation.
   b.  During an extended benefit period that began on or before the date the individual exhausts all rights to emergency unemployment compensation.
   Sec. 2.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect on the first Sunday occurring thirty days after enactment of this Act.
   Sec. 3.  RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY.  For purposes of providing extended unemployment compensation benefits, this Act applies retroactively to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after December 17, 2010.
EXPLANATION
   This bill provides alternate definitions for the indicators for unemployment compensation extended benefits dating from December 17, 2010, and until four weeks prior to the last week for which the federal government funds 100 percent of the cost of shareable extended unemployment compensation benefits and shareable regular unemployment compensation benefits. The bill sets out new criteria for weekly “on” and “off” indicators. The bill also defines a “high unemployment period”, during which certain provisions of Code section 96.29(4), concerning total unemployment extended benefit amounts, are modified. The bill provides that an individual’s eligibility period for extended unemployment compensation benefits under the bill includes a week which begins after the date as of which the individual exhausts all rights to emergency unemployment compensation and during an extended benefit period that began on or before the date the individual exhausts all rights to emergency unemployment compensation.
   The bill takes effect on the first Sunday occurring 30 days after enactment.
   The bill applies retroactively to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after December 17, 2010, for purposes of providing extended unemployment compensation benefits.