CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 24

Introduced by Assembly Member Waldron
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chen, Cunningham, Megan Dahle, Davies, Kiley, Lackey, Mathis, Nguyen, Smith, Valladares, and Voepel)

December 07, 2020

An act to amend Sections 1329 and 1330 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 24, as introduced, Waldron. Unemployment insurance: benefit determination deadlines.
Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department (department) to administer the federal-state unemployment insurance program and provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law establishes procedures for the filing, determination, and payment of benefit claims, and those benefits are payable from the Unemployment Fund. Existing law requires the department to promptly pay benefits if it finds the claimant is eligible and to promptly deny benefits if it finds the claimant is ineligible for benefits. Existing law requires the department to consider facts submitted by an employer in making this determination and also provides for the department to audit claims, as specified. Existing law provides a procedure for a claimant or a base employer to challenge a determination of the computation or recomputation of the benefits.
This bill would require the department to provide a claimant with a notification of the computation used to determine their benefits within 30 days of the receipt of the claim and to respond to a challenge by the claimant or the base employer based on the computation or recomputation of benefits within 15 days of the receipt of the protest, except as specified. This bill would also make technical changes to these provisions.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 1329 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read:

1329.
 (a) Upon the filing of a new claim for benefits, the department shall promptly make a computation on the claim that shall set forth the maximum amount of benefits potentially payable during the benefit year, and the weekly benefit amount. The department shall promptly notify the claimant of the computation and the method of computation. computation not more than 30 days following receipt of the claim. If the department is unable to meet the 30-day deadline, it shall notify the claimant within 30 days of receipt of the claim of the anticipated length of the delay and the reason for the delay. The department shall promptly notify each of the claimant’s base period employers of the computation after the payment of the first weekly benefit.
(b) The department shall promptly notify each of the claimant’s base period employers of the computation on the claim that shall set forth the number of weeks that the claimant will be eligible for benefits in the benefit year, the weekly benefit amount, and the maximum amount of benefits potentially payable during the benefit year, based on a determination of eligibility under Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 1266).

SEC. 2.

 Section 1330 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read:

1330.
 (a) The claimant and any base period employer to whom a notice of computation or recomputation is given may, within 30 days after the mailing or personal service of the notice, protest the accuracy of the computation or recomputation. The 30-day period may be extended for good cause. The department shall consider this protest and shall promptly notify the claimant and the base period employer submitting the protest of the recomputation or denial of recomputation. recomputation not more than 15 days following receipt of the protest. If the department is unable to meet the 15-day deadline, it shall notify the claimant and the employer within 15 days of receipt of the protest of the anticipated length of the delay and the reason for the delay. An appeal may be taken from a notice of denial of recomputation in the manner prescribed in Section 1328. The director shall be an interested party to any appeal.
(b) “Good cause,” as used in this section, shall include, but not be limited to, mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.

(c)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2015.

SEC. 3.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to ensure the prompt and orderly payment of unemployment benefits to unemployed workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary that this bill take effect immediately.