1-1 By: Oliveira (Senate Sponsor - Sibley) H.B. No. 1027
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 3, 1995;
1-3 April 4, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Economic Development; May 22, 1995, reported favorably by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 22, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to certain eligibility conditions for receipt of
1-9 unemployment compensation benefits.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 207.021(a), Labor Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 (a) Except as provided by Chapter 215, an unemployed
1-14 individual is eligible to receive benefits for a benefit period if
1-15 the individual:
1-16 (1) has registered for work at an employment office
1-17 and has continued to report to the employment office as required by
1-18 rules adopted by the commission;
1-19 (2) has made a claim for benefits under Section
1-20 208.001;
1-21 (3) is able to work;
1-22 (4) is available for work;
1-23 (5) for the individual's base period, has benefit wage
1-24 credits:
1-25 (A) in at least two calendar quarters; and
1-26 (B) in an amount not less than 37 times the
1-27 individual's benefit amount;
1-28 (6) after the beginning date of the individual's most
1-29 recent prior benefit year, if applicable, earned wages in an amount
1-30 equal to not less than six times the individual's benefit amount;
1-31 <and>
1-32 (7) has been totally or partially unemployed for a
1-33 waiting period of at least seven consecutive days; and
1-34 (8) participates in reemployment services, such as a
1-35 job search assistance service, if the individual has been
1-36 determined, according to a profiling system established by the
1-37 commission, to be likely to exhaust eligibility for regular
1-38 benefits and to need those services to obtain new employment,
1-39 unless:
1-40 (A) the individual has completed participation
1-41 in such a service; or
1-42 (B) there is reasonable cause, as determined by
1-43 the commission, for the individual's failure to participate in
1-44 those services.
1-45 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
1-46 applies only to eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits
1-47 based on a claim filed with the Texas Employment Commission on or
1-48 after that date. A claim filed before that date is governed by the
1-49 law in effect on the date that the claim was filed, and the former
1-50 law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-51 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-52 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-56 * * * * *