By Galloway S.B. No. 643
75R3655 PB-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the experience rate applicable to certain successor
1-3 employers for contributions under the unemployment compensation
1-4 system.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 204.085, Labor Code, is amended to read
1-7 as follows:
1-8 Sec. 204.085. CONTRIBUTION RATE FOR SUCCESSOR EMPLOYER. (a)
1-9 If, on the date of an acquisition, at least one of the employing
1-10 units that is a party to the acquisition is an experience-rated
1-11 employer, and the [A] successor employing unit [that] is subject to
1-12 Section 204.083 or 204.084, the successor employing unit [and is an
1-13 experience-rated employer on the date of the acquisition] shall pay
1-14 contributions from the effective date of the acquisition as
1-15 provided by Section 204.082 until the end of the calendar year in
1-16 which the acquisition occurred at a [the] rate computed by adding
1-17 together the compensation experience of all the employing units
1-18 that are parties to the acquisition for the 12 calendar quarters
1-19 preceding the quarter in which [applicable to the successor
1-20 employing unit on the date of] the acquisition occurred and using
1-21 that combined experience to compute an aggregate experience rate.
1-22 (b) If, on the date of an acquisition, no employing unit
1-23 that is a party to the acquisition is an experience-rated employer,
1-24 and the [A] successor employing unit [that] is subject to Section
2-1 204.083 or 204.084, the successor employing unit [and is not an
2-2 experience-rated employer on the date of the acquisition] shall pay
2-3 contributions at the rate prescribed by Section 204.0065 if [from
2-4 the date of] the acquisition occurs before January 1, 2000, and at
2-5 the rate prescribed by Section 204.006 if the acquisition occurs on
2-6 or after January 1, 2000, until the successor employing unit is
2-7 eligible for an experience rate under Section 204.041. The rate
2-8 under Section 204.041 shall be computed by adding together the
2-9 compensation experience of all employing units that are parties
2-10 [next tax rate computation date at the highest rate applicable at
2-11 the time of the acquisition to any predecessor employer who is a
2-12 party] to the acquisition and using that combined experience to
2-13 compute an aggregate experience rate.
2-14 SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
2-15 section, Section 204.085, Labor Code, as amended by this Act,
2-16 applies only to a computation of an experience rate for
2-17 unemployment compensation contributions that is made by the Texas
2-18 Workforce Commission on or after that date. A computation made by
2-19 that commission before that date is governed by the law in effect
2-20 on the date that the computation was made, and the former law is
2-21 continued in effect for that purpose.
2-22 (b) An employing unit that is taxed for unemployment
2-23 compensation contributions based on an experience rate that would
2-24 not have been applied to that employing unit if the amendments made
2-25 by this Act to Section 204.085, Labor Code, had been in effect on
2-26 September 1, 1995, may apply to the Texas Workforce Commission in
2-27 writing between September 1, 1997, and December 31, 1997, for a
3-1 recomputation of the employer's experience rate. On receipt of an
3-2 application under this subsection, the commission shall recompute
3-3 the employer's experience rate under Section 204.085, Labor Code,
3-4 as amended by this Act, and shall use the recomputed experience
3-5 rate in establishing the employer's unemployment compensation tax
3-6 rate for all subsequent tax years, beginning January 1, 1998.
3-7 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.