JKM C.S.H.B. 1720 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT C.S.H.B. 1720 By: Siebert 3-21-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Under certain circumstances, the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act, Subtitle A, Title 4, Labor Code, allows an individual who is partially unemployed to draw unemployment benefits. The Act currently defines partial unemployment without reference to the reason for the partial unemployment. PURPOSE HB 1720 amends Section 201.091, Labor Code, Total and Partial Unemployment, to provide that an individual is not partially unemployed if the individual's work hours are reduced by the individual's employer as a result of misconduct on the part of the individual. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS Section 1. Amends Section 201.091, Labor Code, by adding Subsection (d) providing that an individual is not partially unemployed for a benefit period in which the individual's working hours are reduced by the individual's employer as a result of misconduct connected with the work on the part of the individual. Requires that the maximum amount of time for such limitation is four weeks from the effective date of such a reduction in hours. Section 2. Effective September 1, 1997, and applicable to a claim filed on or after that date. Section 3. Emergency Clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE HB 1720 relates to a disqualification of eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits for periods of partial unemployment caused by a disciplinary reduction in hours. CSHB 1720 relates to the same topic, but modifies the cause for partial unemployment to be "a reduction in hours as a result of misconduct." Section 1. Amends Section 201.091, Labor Code, by adding Subsection (d). HB 1720 Subsection (d) states that an employee is not partially unemployed for the purposes of this subtitle if the individual's hours are reduced by the individual's employer as a result of a disciplinary action. In CSHB 1720, Subsection (d), language concerning disciplinary action is left out. CSHB 1720 states that an individual is not partially unemployed if the individual's hours are reduced by the employer as a result of misconduct connected with the work on the part of the individual. CSHB also places a maximum limit of four weeks on the amount of time such a limitation can be effective.