By:  Nixon                                             S.B. No. 216

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the disqualification for the receipt of unemployment

 1-2     compensation benefits of an individual receiving certain

 1-3     remuneration.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 207.049, Labor Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 207.049.  Receipt of Remuneration.  (a)  An individual

 1-8     is disqualified for benefits for a benefit period for which the

 1-9     individual is receiving or has received remuneration in the form

1-10     of:

1-11                 (1)  wages in lieu of notice; [or]

1-12                 (2)  compensation under a state worker's compensation

1-13     law or a similar law of the United States for:

1-14                       (A)  temporary partial disability;

1-15                       (B)  temporary total disability; or

1-16                       (C)  total and permanent disability; or

1-17                 (3)  severance pay, except severance pay that is

1-18     explicitly outlined in a group employment contract.

1-19           (b)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), if the remuneration

1-20     received by an individual under Subsection (a)(1) or (a)(3) is less

1-21     than the benefits that the individual would otherwise be eligible

1-22     to receive, the individual is entitled to receive benefits for the

1-23     benefit period that are reduced by the amount of the remuneration,

 2-1     adjusted as provided by Section 207.006.

 2-2           (c)  It is the intent of the legislature that a

 2-3     disqualification imposed under this section shall have only the

 2-4     effect of delaying the time that a claimant may begin drawing

 2-5     benefits to which the claimant is otherwise entitled and that the

 2-6     disqualification in no way reduces the maximum benefit amount

 2-7     determined on the basis of the wage credits earned by the claimant

 2-8     during the base period of the claim in question.

 2-9           SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to benefit eligibility for

2-10     an unemployment compensation claim that is filed with the Texas

2-11     Workforce Commission on or after the effective date of this Act.  A

2-12     claim filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by

2-13     the law in effect on the date that the claim was filed, and the

2-14     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

2-15           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-20     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-21     passage, and it is so enacted.