Bill Text: IL HB4027 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides that an unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the Director finds that the unemployed individual has performed at least 20 hours of volunteer service per week for a nonprofit charitable organization which is qualified as exempt from taxation under the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Provides that the Director, by regulation, may waive or alter the requirement for volunteer service for cases or situations in which the Director finds that compliance with the requirement would be oppressive or inconsistent with the purposes of the Act. Provides that the requirement for volunteer service shall not apply to the first 2 weeks of eligibility. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HB4027 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-HB4027-Introduced.html

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97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2011 and 2012 HB4027 Introduced , by Rep. Jil Tracy SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
820 ILCS 405/500 from Ch. 48, par. 420
Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides that an unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the Director finds that the unemployed individual has performed at least 20 hours of volunteer service per week for a nonprofit charitable organization which is qualified as exempt from taxation under the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Provides that the Director, by regulation, may waive or alter the requirement for volunteer service for cases or situations in which the Director finds that compliance with the requirement would be oppressive or inconsistent with the purposes of the Act. Provides that the requirement for volunteer service shall not apply to the first 2 weeks of eligibility. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning employment.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
changing Section 500 as follows:
(820 ILCS 405/500) (from Ch. 48, par. 420)
Sec. 500. Eligibility for benefits. An unemployed
individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect
to any week only if the Director finds that:
A. He has registered for work at and thereafter has
continued to report at an employment office in accordance with
such regulations as the Director may prescribe, except that the
Director may, by regulation, waive or alter either or both of
the requirements of this subsection as to individuals attached
to regular jobs, and as to such other types of cases or
situations with respect to which he finds that compliance with
such requirements would be oppressive or inconsistent with the
purposes of this Act, provided that no such regulation shall
conflict with Section 400 of this Act.
B. He has made a claim for benefits with respect to such
week in accordance with such regulations as the Director may
prescribe.
C. He is able to work, and is available for work; provided

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that during the period in question he was actively seeking work
and he has certified such. Whenever requested to do so by the
Director, the individual shall, in the manner the Director
prescribes by regulation, inform the Department of the places
at which he has sought work during the period in question.
Nothing in this subsection shall limit the Director's approval
of alternate methods of demonstrating an active search for work
based on regular reporting to a trade union office.
1. If an otherwise eligible individual is unable to
work or is unavailable for work on any normal workday of
the week, he shall be eligible to receive benefits with
respect to such week reduced by one-fifth of his weekly
benefit amount for each day of such inability to work or
unavailability for work. For the purposes of this
paragraph, an individual who reports on a day subsequent to
his designated report day shall be deemed unavailable for
work on his report day if his failure to report on that day
is without good cause, and on each intervening day, if any,
on which his failure to report is without good cause. As
used in the preceding sentence, "report day" means the day
which has been designated for the individual to report to
file his claim for benefits with respect to any week. This
paragraph shall not be construed so as to effect any change
in the status of part-time workers as defined in Section
407.
2. An individual shall be considered to be unavailable

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for work on days listed as whole holidays in "An Act to
revise the law in relation to promissory notes, bonds, due
bills and other instruments in writing," approved March 18,
1874, as amended; on days which are holidays in his
religion or faith, and on days which are holidays according
to the custom of his trade or occupation, if his failure to
work on such day is a result of the holiday. In determining
the claimant's eligibility for benefits and the amount to
be paid him, with respect to the week in which such holiday
occurs, he shall have attributed to him as additional
earnings for that week an amount equal to one-fifth of his
weekly benefit amount for each normal work day on which he
does not work because of a holiday of the type above
enumerated.
3. An individual shall be deemed unavailable for work
if, after his separation from his most recent employing
unit, he has removed himself to and remains in a locality
where opportunities for work are substantially less
favorable than those in the locality he has left.
4. An individual shall be deemed unavailable for work
with respect to any week which occurs in a period when his
principal occupation is that of a student in attendance at,
or on vacation from, a public or private school.
5. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, an
individual shall not be deemed unavailable for work or to
have failed actively to seek work, nor shall he be

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ineligible for benefits by reason of the application of the
provisions of Section 603, with respect to any week,
because he is enrolled in and is in regular attendance at a
training course approved for him by the Director:
(a) but only if, with respect to that week, the
individual presents, upon request, to the claims
adjudicator referred to in Section 702 a statement
executed by a responsible person connected with the
training course, certifying that the individual was in
full-time attendance at such course during the week.
The Director may approve such course for an individual
only if he finds that (1) reasonable work opportunities
for which the individual is fitted by training and
experience do not exist in his locality; (2) the
training course relates to an occupation or skill for
which there are, or are expected to be in the immediate
future, reasonable work opportunities in his locality;
(3) the training course is offered by a competent and
reliable agency, educational institution, or employing
unit; (4) the individual has the required
qualifications and aptitudes to complete the course
successfully; and (5) the individual is not receiving
and is not eligible (other than because he has claimed
benefits under this Act) for subsistence payments or
similar assistance under any public or private
retraining program: Provided, that the Director shall

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not disapprove such course solely by reason of clause
(5) if the subsistence payment or similar assistance is
subject to reduction by an amount equal to any benefits
payable to the individual under this Act in the absence
of the clause. In the event that an individual's weekly
unemployment compensation benefit is less than his
certified training allowance, that person shall be
eligible to receive his entire unemployment
compensation benefits, plus such supplemental training
allowances that would make an applicant's total weekly
benefit identical to the original certified training
allowance.
(b) The Director shall have the authority to grant
approval pursuant to subparagraph (a) above prior to an
individual's formal admission into a training course.
Requests for approval shall not be made more than 30
days prior to the actual starting date of such course.
Requests shall be made at the appropriate unemployment
office.
(c) The Director shall for purposes of paragraph C
have the authority to issue a blanket approval of
training programs implemented pursuant to the federal
Workforce Investment Act of 1998 if both the training
program and the criteria for an individual's
participation in such training meet the requirements
of this paragraph C.

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(d) Notwithstanding the requirements of
subparagraph (a), the Director shall have the
authority to issue blanket approval of training
programs implemented under the terms of a collective
bargaining agreement.
6. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, an
individual shall not be deemed unavailable for work or to
have failed actively to seek work, nor shall he be
ineligible for benefits, by reason of the application of
the provisions of Section 603 with respect to any week
because he is in training approved under Section 236 (a)(1)
of the federal Trade Act of 1974, nor shall an individual
be ineligible for benefits under the provisions of Section
601 by reason of leaving work voluntarily to enter such
training if the work left is not of a substantially equal
or higher skill level than the individual's past adversely
affected employment as defined under the federal Trade Act
of 1974 and the wages for such work are less than 80% of
his average weekly wage as determined under the federal
Trade Act of 1974.
D. If his benefit year begins prior to July 6, 1975 or
subsequent to January 2, 1982, he has been unemployed for a
waiting period of 1 week during such benefit year. If his
benefit year begins on or after July 6, l975, but prior to
January 3, 1982, and his unemployment continues for more than
three weeks during such benefit year, he shall be eligible for

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benefits with respect to each week of such unemployment,
including the first week thereof. An individual shall be deemed
to be unemployed within the meaning of this subsection while
receiving public assistance as remuneration for services
performed on work projects financed from funds made available
to governmental agencies for such purpose. No week shall be
counted as a week of unemployment for the purposes of this
subsection:
1. Unless it occurs within the benefit year which
includes the week with respect to which he claims payment
of benefits, provided that, for benefit years beginning
prior to January 3, 1982, this requirement shall not
interrupt the payment of benefits for consecutive weeks of
unemployment; and provided further that the week
immediately preceding a benefit year, if part of one
uninterrupted period of unemployment which continues into
such benefit year, shall be deemed (for the purpose of this
subsection only and with respect to benefit years beginning
prior to January 3, 1982, only) to be within such benefit
year, as well as within the preceding benefit year, if the
unemployed individual would, except for the provisions of
the first paragraph and paragraph 1 of this subsection and
of Section 605, be eligible for and entitled to benefits
for such week.
2. If benefits have been paid with respect thereto.
3. Unless the individual was eligible for benefits with

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respect thereto except for the requirements of this
subsection and of Section 605.
E. With respect to any benefit year beginning prior to
January 3, 1982, he has been paid during his base period wages
for insured work not less than the amount specified in Section
500E of this Act as amended and in effect on October 5, 1980.
With respect to any benefit year beginning on or after January
3, 1982, he has been paid during his base period wages for
insured work equal to not less than $1,600, provided that he
has been paid wages for insured work equal to at least $440
during that part of his base period which does not include the
calendar quarter in which the wages paid to him were highest.
F. During that week he has participated in reemployment
services to which he has been referred, including but not
limited to job search assistance services, pursuant to a
profiling system established by the Director by rule in
conformity with Section 303(j)(1) of the federal Social
Security Act, unless the Director determines that:
1. the individual has completed such services; or
2. there is justifiable cause for the claimant's
failure to participate in such services.
This subsection F is added by this amendatory Act of 1995
to clarify authority already provided under subsections A and C
in connection with the unemployment insurance claimant
profiling system required under subsections (a)(10) and (j)(1)
of Section 303 of the federal Social Security Act as a

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condition of federal funding for the administration of the
Unemployment Insurance Act.
G. The unemployed individual has performed at least 20
hours of volunteer service per week for a nonprofit charitable
organization which is qualified as exempt from taxation under
the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986. Such organization and service shall be in
accordance with any regulations prescribed by the Director.
This paragraph shall not apply to the first 2 weeks of
eligibility. The Director, by regulation, may waive or alter
the requirements of this paragraph for cases or situations in
which the Director finds that compliance with the requirements
would be oppressive or inconsistent with the purposes of this
Act.
(Source: P.A. 92-396, eff. 1-1-02.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.