HOUSE BILL REPORT
SB 6567
BYSenators Lee and Smitherman; by request of Employment Security Department
Revising the definition of benefit year for unemployment compensation.
House Committe on Commerce & Labor
Majority Report: Do pass. (11)
Signed by Representatives Vekich, Chair; Cole, Vice Chair; Smith, Ranking Republican Member; Forner, Jones, R. King, Leonard, O'Brien, Prentice, Walker and Wolfe.
House Staff:Chris Cordes (786-7117)
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & LABOR FEBRUARY 21, 1990
BACKGROUND:
Under federal law, state unemployment insurance laws must require an unemployed worker to requalify if the worker applies more than once for benefits based on the same period of employment. To requalify in Washington, a claimant who files a subsequent application for unemployment benefits, using wage credits that were earned before the earlier claim was filed, must have earned at least six times the weekly benefit amount since the beginning of the waiting period in the previous benefit year. Some claimants return to work before receiving the waiting period credit and therefore are unable to qualify for benefits in the subsequent claim.
SUMMARY:
The requirement is amended for establishing an unemployment insurance benefit year when the claimant's base year includes wages earned before the establishment of a prior benefit year. The claimant is required to have earnings of not less than six times the weekly benefit amount in the period following the initial job separation in the prior benefit year, rather than in the period beginning with the waiting period in the prior benefit year.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.
House Committee ‑ Testified For: Graeme Sackrison, Employment Security Department.
House Committee - Testified Against: No one.
House Committee - Testimony For: The bill makes a technical change that will allow the Employment Security Department to process applications more efficiently for unemployment benefits for a small number of claimants who are reapplying for unemployment benefits. Under current law, these claimants are technically not eligible for benefits, but the department manually cancels the first claim and allows benefits on the second claim. This process is cumbersome and expensive, and needs to be corrected.
House Committee - Testimony Against: None.