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H.B. 19 Enrolled

                 

    EMPLOYMENT SECURITY ACT
                 
MODIFICATIONS

                 
2003 GENERAL SESSION

                 
STATE OF UTAH

                 
Sponsor: Merlynn T. Newbold

                  This act amends the Employment Security Act by providing for additional
                  unemployment compensation benefits for individuals who have exhausted their regular
                  benefits. The act provides specific requirements to receive the additional benefits and a
                  limit on the amount of benefits an individual can receive. The act sunsets Section
                  35A-4-402.5 on July 1, 2004.
                  This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
                  AMENDS:
                      63-55-235, as last amended by Chapter 46, Laws of Utah 2001
                  ENACTS:
                      35A-4-402.5, Utah Code Annotated 1953
                  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
                      Section 1. Section 35A-4-402.5 is enacted to read:
                      35A-4-402.5. Additional benefits.
                      (1) The eligibility provisions of this chapter and department rules which apply to
                  claims for, or payments of, regular benefits apply to claims for, and payments of, additional
                  unemployment compensation benefits, hereafter referred to in this section as "additional
                  benefits," except when the result would be inconsistent with the other provisions of this section
                  or the rules of the department.
                      (2) An individual is eligible to receive additional benefits if the individual:
                      (a) has received or exhausted all of the regular benefits that were available to the
                  individual under this chapter or any other state law, including benefits payable to federal
                  civilian employees and ex-servicemen under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 85. An individual, for the
                  purposes of this Subsection (2)(a), is considered to have received all of the regular benefits that
                  were available to the individual even though, as a result of a pending appeal with respect to


                  wages or employment, or both, that were not considered in the original monetary determination
                  in the individual's benefit year, the individual may subsequently be determined to be entitled to
                  added regular benefits;
                      (b) has insufficient wages to establish a new benefit year or has sufficient wages but does
                  not meet the subsequent qualifying provisions of Subsection 35A-4-403 (1)(g);
                      (c) has no right to unemployment benefits or allowances, as the case may be, under the
                  Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and has not received, and is not seeking, unemployment
                  benefits under the unemployment compensation law of any other state, Washington D.C., the
                  Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or Canada. If the individual is seeking those benefits and the
                  appropriate agency finally determines that the individual is not entitled to benefits under that law,
                  the individual may be eligible for additional benefits;
                      (d) filed an initial claim for regular benefits on or after March 15, 2001; and
                      (e) files an initial application for additional benefits on or after June 1, 2003, and on or
                  before December 27, 2003, and has an effective date no later than December 21, 2003.
                      (3) (a) (i) The first payable week for additional benefits is the week beginning June 1,
                  2003.
                      (ii) The last payable week for additional benefits is the week beginning January 25, 2004.
                      (b) Notwithstanding Section 35A-4-402 , "regular benefits" as used in this section means
                  benefits payable to an individual under this chapter or under any other state law, including
                  benefits payable to federal civilian employees and to ex-servicemen under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 85,
                  other than extended benefits and additional benefits.
                      (4) (a) The weekly additional benefit amount is the same as the weekly regular benefit
                  amount payable during the individual's applicable benefit year.
                      (b) The applicable benefit year means the benefit year for the most recent claim for
                  regular benefits that was effective on or after March 15, 2001, for which the individual was
                  monetarily eligible.
                      (5) The total additional benefit amount payable to any eligible individual is five times the
                  individual's weekly regular benefit amount payable under this chapter for a week of total

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                  unemployment in the applicable benefit year.
                      (6) An individual shall exhaust the individual's entitlement to benefits in the following
                  order:
                      (a) regular benefits;
                      (b) Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation, if available;
                      (c) extended benefits;
                      (d) additional benefits; and
                      (e) Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA).
                      (7) TRA and additional benefits cannot be paid for the same week.
                      (8) (a) The division may not charge a contributing base employer's account with any
                  portion of additional benefits paid to an individual under this section.
                      (b) Reimbursable and federal employers and branches of the military are not liable to pay
                  the division for additional benefits.
                      Section 2. Section 63-55-235 is amended to read:
                       63-55-235. Repeal dates, Title 35A.
                      (1) Title 35A, Utah Workforce Services Code, is repealed July 1, 2005.
                      (2) Section 35A-3-114 , the Displaced Homemaker Program, together with the provision
                  for funding that program contained in Subsection 17-16-21 (2)(b), is repealed July 1, 2007.
                      (3) Section 35A-4-402.5 , the additional unemployment compensation benefits program,
                  is repealed July 1, 2004.

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