By: Hernandez, Guillen H.B. No. 3697

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the eligibility for unemployment compensation of certain employees who leave the workplace to care for a minor child and to a requirement that the Texas Workforce Commission pilot the use of certain third-party employment and income information to assist with determining unemployment benefit eligibility.

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

SECTION 1. Section 207.046(a), Labor Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) An individual is not disqualified for benefits under this subchapter if:

(1) the work-related reason for the individual's separation from employment was urgent, compelling, and necessary so as to make the separation involuntary;

(2) the individual leaves the workplace to protect the individual from family violence or stalking or the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family from violence related to a sexual assault as evidenced by:

(A) an active or recently issued protective order documenting sexual assault of the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or family violence against, or the stalking of, the individual or the potential for family violence against, or the stalking of, the individual;

(B) a police record documenting sexual assault of the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or family violence against, or the stalking of, the individual;

(C) a physician's statement or other medical documentation that describes the sexual assault of the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or family violence against the individual that:

(i) is recorded in any form or medium that identifies the individual or member of the individual's immediate family, as applicable, as the patient; and

(ii) relates to the history, diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis of the patient; or

(D) written documentation from a family violence center or rape crisis center that describes the sexual assault of the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or family violence against the individual; [or]

(3) the individual leaves the workplace to care for the individual's terminally ill spouse as evidenced by a physician's statement or other medical documentation, but only if no reasonable, alternative care was available; or

(4) the individual leaves the workplace to care for the individual's minor child due to an unexpected illness, accident, or other unforeseeable event, but only if no reasonable, alternative care was available.

SECTION 2. (a) In this section, "real-time employment and income information" means up-to-date, non-modeled employment and income data provided by employers and payroll providers.

(b) In order to improve the timeliness of unemployment compensation payments, operational efficiencies, and cost savings and to minimize fraud, the Texas Workforce Commission shall participate in a no-cost pilot by which the commission shall obtain real-time employment and income information from a third-party commercial consumer reporting agency, in accordance with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1681 et seq.), for the purpose of assisting with the determination of an individual's eligibility to receive unemployment benefits, including to conduct an analysis on the pilot.

(c) The Texas Workforce Commission shall report on the value of integrating real-time employment and income information into existing verification and eligibility determination procedures and the potential to identify fraud and produce cost savings.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section 207.046(a), Labor Code, applies only to a claim for unemployment compensation benefits filed with the Texas Workforce Commission on or after the effective date of this Act. A claim filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the claim was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.