Bill Text: TX SB658 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the imposition and collection of a penalty for fraudulently obtaining unemployment compensation benefits.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [SB658 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB658-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 658

AN ACT
relating to the imposition and collection of a penalty for
fraudulently obtaining unemployment compensation benefits.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 203.201, Labor Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) The special administration fund consists of:
(1) all interest and penalties collected under this
subtitle, other than a penalty assessed under Section
214.003(a)(2); and
(2) any amounts received under any surety bond for
losses sustained by the special administration fund[; and
[(3) money transferred under Section 203.103].
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 214.003, Labor Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 214.003. FORFEITURE OR CANCELLATION OF BENEFITS PAID
AND REMAINING BENEFITS; PENALTY.
SECTION 3. Section 214.003, Labor Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read
as follows:
(a) If, by wilful nondisclosure or misrepresentation of a
material fact, whether the nondisclosure or misrepresentation is
made by the person or for the person by another, a person receives a
benefit when a condition imposed by this subtitle for the person's
qualifying for the benefit is not fulfilled or the person is
disqualified from receiving the benefit:
(1) [,] the person forfeits the:
(A) [(1)] benefit received; and
(B) [(2)] rights to benefits that remain in the
benefit year in which the nondisclosure or misrepresentation
occurred; and
(2) the commission shall require the person to pay a
penalty in an amount equal to 15 percent of the amount forfeited
under Subdivision (1)(A).
(c) A forfeiture, [or] cancellation, or penalty imposed
under this section is effective only after the person has been
afforded an opportunity for a fair hearing before the commission or
its duly designated representative.
(d) A person who is assessed a penalty by the commission
under Subsection (a)(2) is liable for the amount of the penalty.
The commission may collect the penalty in the same manner as
provided by Sections 213.031, 213.032, 213.033, 213.035, and
213.051 for the collection of past-due contributions. The
commission shall deposit a penalty assessed under Subsection (a)(2)
in the unemployment compensation fund established under Section
203.021.
SECTION 4. Section 214.003, Labor Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to a final determination made by the Texas
Workforce Commission or the commission's duly designated
representative on or after October 1, 2013, that a person received a
benefit due to a nondisclosure or misrepresentation. A final
determination made before that date is governed by the law in effect
on the date the determination was made, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect October 1, 2013.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 658 passed the Senate on
April 18, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 658 passed the House on
May 20, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, two
present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor