H.B. No. 1251
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the transfer of compensation experience for purposes of
  the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 204.081, Labor Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         Sec. 204.081.  DEFINITIONS. (a) In this subchapter:
               (1)  "Compensation experience" includes the period
  that benefit wage credits or benefits have been chargeable and any
  other factor under Subchapter A, B, C, or D necessary to the
  computation of experience rating under those subchapters.
               (2)  "Person" means an individual, trust, estate,
  partnership, association, company, or corporation.
               (3)  "Substantially common management or control"
  exists if, after the acquisition of the organization, trade, or
  business of an employing unit, the predecessor employing unit
  continues to:
                     (A)  own or manage the organization that conducts
  the organization, trade, or business;
                     (B)  own or manage the assets necessary to conduct
  the organization, trade, or business;
                     (C)  control through security or lease
  arrangements the assets necessary to conduct the organization,
  trade, or business; or
                     (D)  direct the internal affairs or conduct of the
  organization, trade, or business.
               (4)  "Substantially common ownership" exists if, on the
  date of an acquisition of the organization, trade, or business of an
  employing unit, a shareholder, officer, or other owner of a legal or
  equitable interest in the predecessor employing unit, or the spouse
  or a person within the first degree of consanguinity or affinity, as
  determined under Chapter 573, Government Code, of the shareholder,
  officer, or other owner:
                     (A)  is a shareholder, officer, or other owner of
  a legal or equitable interest in the successor employing unit; or
                     (B)  holds an option to purchase a legal or
  equitable interest in the successor employing unit.
               (5)  "Transfer of trade or business" includes the
  transfer of part or all of an employer's workforce to another
  employer if, as the result of the transfer, the transferring
  employer no longer performs trade or business with respect to the
  transferred workforce and the employer to whom the workforce is
  transferred performs trade or business with respect to the
  workforce.
               (6)  "Knowingly" means having actual knowledge of or
  acting with deliberate ignorance of or reckless disregard for the
  prohibition involved.
         (b)  For purposes of Subsection (a)(4), following a partial
  acquisition of an organization, trade, or business of an employing
  unit, substantially common ownership does not exist solely because
  the predecessor employing unit has the right to repossess the part
  acquired by the successor employing unit in the event of the
  successor's failure to complete a condition of the acquisition.
         SECTION 2.  Section 204.085, Labor Code, is amended by
  adding Subsections (a-1) and (e) to read as follows:
         (a-1)  In the case of a partial acquisition for which the
  transfer of compensation experience is required under Section
  204.083, the predecessor employer and successor employer may
  jointly submit, not later than the second anniversary of the date
  the partial acquisition was completed, information necessary for
  making the determination described by Subsection (a). The period
  for which the information is submitted must be the lesser of:
               (1)  four years; or
               (2)  the length of time the predecessor employer was
  liable for the payment of a tax under this subtitle. 
         (e)  The commission shall include information about the
  availability of a partial transfer of compensation experience under
  this subchapter:
               (1)  with the information provided by the commission to
  each new employer; and 
               (2)  on any form, including in electronic format,
  required to be submitted by an employer to report a change of
  status.
         SECTION 3.  Sections 204.081(b) and 204.085(a-1), Labor
  Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a partial acquisition of
  an organization, trade, or business of an employing unit that
  occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. An acquisition
  that occurs before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
  law in effect on the date the acquisition occurred, and the former
  law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1251 was passed by the House on May 5,
  2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, Nays 1, 2 present, not
  voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
  No. 1251 on May 21, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 139, Nays 1,
  2 present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1251 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 20, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays
  0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor