Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 3324 amends the Labor Code to add a new subchapter relating to issuance of financial obligations for the unemployment compensation fund. The bill authorizes the Texas Workforce Commission to request the Texas Public Finance Authority to issue up to $2 billion in bonds on its behalf to pay unemployment benefits and for certain other uses. Before making a request, the commission by resolution must determine that bond financing is more cost-effective than borrowing from the federal trust fund to pay unemployment benefits when the unemployment compensation fund has a negative balance. The authority is required to issue the bonds and is authorized to enter into a credit agreement. The bill establishes that the bonds and any related credit agreement are not a debt of the state, a state agency, or a political subdivision and that the bonds, bond transactions, and bond profits are tax-exempt. The bill authorizes bond proceeds to be deposited with a trustee selected by the authority and the commission or held by the comptroller in the obligation trust fund, designated as a dedicated trust fund outside the state treasury. It requires the commission to assess an unemployment obligation assessment annually on each employer entitled to an experience rating to pay bond obligations and bond administrative expenses, and requires revenue collected from the assessment to be deposited into the obligation trust fund. It requires the unemployment obligation assessment rate to be based on a formula prescribed by commission rule using the employer's experience rating from the previous year, and provides that the assessment is due at the same time, collected in the same manner, and subject to the same penalties and interest as the unemployment compensation assessment. It authorizes excess revenue collections and investment earnings from the unemployment obligation assessment in any year to be used for certain purposes. The commission is required to transfer the balance of the obligation trust fund to the compensation fund after the obligations have been fully satisfied.