S-0904.1                   _______________________________________________

                                                     SENATE BILL 5463

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Senators Moore, Prentice, Fraser and Pelz

Read first time 01/29/93.  Referred to Committee on Labor & Commerce.

Prescribing unemployment compensation maximum benefits.

          AN ACT Relating to unemployment compensation maximum benefits; and amending RCW 50.20.120.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  RCW 50.20.120 and 1984 c 205 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Subject to the other provisions of this title, benefits shall be payable to any eligible individual during the individual's benefit year in a maximum amount equal to the lesser of thirty times the weekly benefit amount (determined hereinafter) or one-third of the individual's base year wages under this title:  PROVIDED, That as to any week beginning on and after March 31, 1981, which falls in an extended benefit period as defined in RCW 50.22.010(1), as now or hereafter amended, an individual's eligibility for maximum benefits in excess of twenty-six times his or her weekly benefit amount will be subject to the terms and conditions set forth in RCW 50.22.020, as now or hereafter amended.

          (2) An individual's weekly benefit amount shall be an amount equal to one twenty-fifth of the average quarterly wages of the individual's total wages during the two quarters of the individual's base year in which such total wages were highest.  The maximum and minimum amounts payable weekly shall be determined as of each June 30th to apply to benefit years beginning in the twelve-month period immediately following such June 30th.  The maximum amount payable weekly shall be ((fifty-five)) one hundred percent of the "average weekly wage" for the calendar year preceding such June 30th((:  PROVIDED, That if as of the first December 31st on which the ratio of the balance in the unemployment compensation fund to total remuneration paid by all employers subject to contributions during the calendar year ending on such December 31st and reported to the department by the following March 31st is 0.024 or more, the maximum amount payable weekly for benefit years beginning with the first full calendar week in July next following, and thereafter, shall be sixty percent of the "average weekly wage")).  The computation for this ratio shall be carried to the fourth decimal place with the remaining fraction, if any, disregarded:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That for benefit years beginning before July 7, 1985, the maximum amount payable weekly shall not exceed one hundred eighty-five dollars.  The minimum amount payable weekly shall be fifteen percent of the "average weekly wage" for the calendar year preceding such June 30th.  If any weekly benefit, maximum benefit, or minimum benefit amount computed herein is not a multiple of one dollar, it shall be reduced to the next lower multiple of one dollar.

                                                           --- END ---