SB 914

Unemployment insurance

This bill makes various changes in the unemployment insurance (UI) law,

which is administered by the Department of Workforce Development. Significant

changes include all of the following:

Program name change

The bill changes references in the statutes to “unemployment insurance” to

“reemployment assistance” and requires the program and its benefits to be known

as reemployment assistance. The bill also requires DWD to have a division known

as the Division of Reemployment Assistance and requires the reemployment

assistance law to be administered by that division.

General qualifying requirements

Under current law, a claimant for UI benefits is generally required to 1) register

for work, 2) be able to work and available for work, and 3) conduct a work search for

each week in order to remain eligible. A claimant is required to conduct at least four

work search actions each week, and DWD may require, by rule, that an individual

conduct more than four work search actions per week. Finally, if a claimant is

claiming benefits for a week other than an initial week, the claimant must provide

information or job application materials that are requested by DWD and participate

in a public employment office workshop or training program or in similar

reemployment services required by DWD.

This bill does the following:

1. Requires, for the third and subsequent weeks of a claimant's benefit year,

that at least two of the required weekly work search actions be direct contacts with

potential employers.

2. Requires a claimant who resides in this state, for each week other than an

initial week, to submit and keep posted on the DWD's job center website a current

resume.

3. Requires, when a claimant is claiming benefits with less than three weeks

of benefits left, that the claimant complete a reemployment counseling session.

Additionally, current law allows DWD to use information or job application

materials described above to assess a claimant's efforts, skills, and ability to find or

obtain work and to develop a list of potential opportunities for a claimant to obtain

suitable work. However, current law provides that a claimant who otherwise

satisfies the required weekly work search requirement is not required to apply for

any specific positions on the list of potential opportunities in order to satisfy the work

search requirement. The bill requires, instead of allows, DWD to provide this

assistance. The bill also repeals the language in current law providing that a

claimant who otherwise satisfies the weekly work search requirement is not required

to apply for specific positions provided by DWD and requires DWD to provide each

claimant with at least four potential opportunities each week, one or more of which