By Elkins                                             H.B. No. 2657
         76R8154 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain disqualifications from eligibility for
 1-3     unemployment benefits.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 207.047, Labor Code, is amended by
 1-6     amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           (a)  An individual is disqualified for benefits if during the
 1-9     individual's current benefit year, the individual failed, without
1-10     good cause, to:
1-11                 (1)  apply on a daily basis for available, suitable
1-12     work  regardless of whether [when] directed to do so by the
1-13     commission;
1-14                 (2)  accept suitable work offered to the individual,
1-15     including work offered to the individual before the date the claim
1-16     was filed; or
1-17                 (3)  return to the individual's customary
1-18     self-employment, if any, when directed to do so by the commission.
1-19           (c)  For purposes of Subsection (a)(1), the commission may
1-20     direct the individual to maintain, for at least two years, records
1-21     regarding the individual's search for employment, including a list
1-22     of daily contacts and the signature of each prospective employer
1-23     contacted.
1-24           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-1           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies to
 2-2     eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits based on an
 2-3     unemployment compensation claim that is filed with the Texas
 2-4     Workforce Commission on or after the effective date of this Act.  A
 2-5     claim filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by
 2-6     the law in effect on the date the claim was filed, and the former
 2-7     law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-8           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.