1-1  By:  Bivins                                           S.B. No. 1340
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed April 2, 1993; April 5, 1993, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Finance; April 19, 1993,
    1-4  reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 13, Nays 0;
    1-5  April 19, 1993, sent to printer.)
    1-6                            COMMITTEE VOTE
    1-7                          Yea     Nay      PNV      Absent 
    1-8        Montford           x                               
    1-9        Turner             x                               
   1-10        Armbrister         x                               
   1-11        Barrientos         x                               
   1-12        Bivins             x                               
   1-13        Ellis              x                               
   1-14        Haley              x                               
   1-15        Moncrief           x                               
   1-16        Parker             x                               
   1-17        Ratliff            x                               
   1-18        Sims               x                               
   1-19        Truan              x                               
   1-20        Zaffirini          x                               
   1-21                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-22                                AN ACT
   1-23  relating to the use of electronic transfer methods for unemployment
   1-24  compensation insurance purposes.
   1-25        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-26        SECTION 1.  Section 9(c), Texas Unemployment Compensation Act
   1-27  (Article 5221b-7, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
   1-28  read as follows:
   1-29        (c)  Withdrawals:  Moneys requisitioned from this State's
   1-30  account in the Unemployment Trust Fund shall be used exclusively
   1-31  for the payment of benefits and for refunds pursuant to Section 14
   1-32  and this Section, except that money credited to this State's
   1-33  account pursuant to Section 903 of the Social Security Act, as
   1-34  amended, may be requisitioned and used by the Commission only to
   1-35  the extent and under the conditions prescribed by said Section 903,
   1-36  as amended.  The Commission shall from time to time requisition
   1-37  from the Unemployment Trust Fund such amounts, not exceeding the
   1-38  amounts standing to its account therein, as it deems necessary for
   1-39  the payment of benefits and refunds for a reasonable future period.
   1-40  Upon receipt thereof, the Treasurer shall deposit such moneys in
   1-41  the benefit account, and the Comptroller shall issue his warrants
   1-42  for payment of benefits solely from such benefit account.
   1-43  Expenditures of such moneys in the benefit account, and refunds
   1-44  from the clearing account, shall not be subject to any provision of
   1-45  law which may require itemization or other formal release by State
   1-46  officers of money in their custody.  <All warrants issued for the
   1-47  payment of benefits and refunds shall bear the signature of the
   1-48  Treasurer and the countersignature of a member of the Commission,
   1-49  or its duly authorized agent, for that purpose.>  Any balance of
   1-50  moneys requisitioned from the Unemployment Trust Fund which remains
   1-51  unclaimed or unpaid in the benefit account after the expiration of
   1-52  the period for which such sums were requisitioned, shall either be
   1-53  deducted from estimates for, and may be utilized for the payment of
   1-54  benefits and refunds during succeeding periods, or, in the
   1-55  discretion of the Commission, shall be redeposited with the
   1-56  Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America, to the
   1-57  credit of this State's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund as
   1-58  provided in subsection (b) of this Section.
   1-59        SECTION 2.  Section 19, Texas Unemployment Compensation Act
   1-60  (Article 5221b-17, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
   1-61  adding Subsections (r) and (s) to read as follows:
   1-62        (r)  "Mail" means the United States Postal Service or any
   1-63  other method approved by the commission to provide actual notice,
   1-64  including an electronic transfer system.
   1-65        (s)  "Warrant" means a written payment order or an electronic
   1-66  payment order that is a part of an electronic fund transfer system
   1-67  approved by the commission.
   1-68        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-5  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-6  passage, and it is so enacted.
    2-7                               * * * * *
    2-8                                                         Austin,
    2-9  Texas
   2-10                                                         April 19, 1993
   2-11  Hon. Bob Bullock
   2-12  President of the Senate
   2-13  Sir:
   2-14  We, your Committee on Finance to which was referred S.B. No. 1340,
   2-15  have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed to
   2-16  report it back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do
   2-17  pass and be printed.
   2-18                                                         Montford,
   2-19  Chairman
   2-20                               * * * * *
   2-21                               WITNESSES
   2-22                                                  FOR   AGAINST  ON
   2-23  ___________________________________________________________________
   2-24  Name:  Jim Hine                                                x
   2-25  Representing:  Texas Employment Commission
   2-26  City:  Austin
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