Legislative Session number- 81

Bill Name: SF1218

E Modifying certain provisions regulating reemployment insurance (unemployment
compensation); requiring use of the distribution of excess federal unemployment
tax act funds for certain fiscal years for reemployment insurance program system
development; modifying certain definitions and defining reemployment assistance
training; eliminating a certain provision providing for organizations or persons
not defined as an employer to file with the commissioner of economic security to
temporarily become an employer; requiring the commissioner to maintain
reimbursable accounts for employers liable for payments in lieu of taxes and
providing for charging of the accounts; modifying the exceptions to employer
charges; clarifying the provision regulating benefits not charged in welfare to
work programs; modifying the computation of the experience rating for taxpaying
employers; expanding the definition of common ownership for experience rate
record transfer purposes and clarifying certain commissioner experience rating
record transfer requirements; modifying the computation of the tax rates for new
employers, changing the term employers in the construction industry to employers
in a high experience rating industry, defining high experience rating industry;
modifying and clarifying the provisions regulating payments to the reemployment
insurance fund by the state or local government units and nonprofit
organizations; modifying tax or benefit nonpayment costs liability and
increasing the fee for dishonored payments; modifying the priority of claims for
wages under legal dissolutions or distributions; clarifying certain tax lien
provisions, authorizing and providing for the commissioner to sell and assign to
third parties the right of redemption in specific real property for filed liens,
requiring crediting of the proceeds to the contingent account; modifying and
clarifying the levy procedure for nonpayment of taxes or payments in lieu of
taxes, clarifying the right of setoff and eliminating the statute of limitations
for collection of taxes by civil action; changing tax clearance certificates to
debt clearance certificates relating to business license revocation for the
nonpayment of taxes or benefits and clarifying the right to appeal; changing
direct liability for unpaid taxes, penalties, interest and collection costs of
employers with a certain percentage of the work force provided by employee
leasing firms to joint and several liability and eliminating the bond option;
changing commissioner compromise agreements to compromise orders; modifying and
clarifying certain provisions regulating the payment of benefits, prohibiting a
presumption of entitlement or nonentitlement to and an equitable or common law
denial or allowance of benefits; changing reemployment insurance accounts to
benefit accounts and modifying certain requirements for establishment of and
withdrawals from the accounts; modifying and clarifying certain benefits
eligibility provisions and defining certain additional terms; providing for
continued request for benefits on active benefit accounts; modifying and
clarifying certain disqualification provisions, layoff due to lack of work to be
considered separation from employment; modifying and clarifying certain
requirements for the determination of disqualification or eligibility by the
commissioner, employer provided information to be absolutely privileged;
requiring evidentiary hearings to be conducted by a reemployment insurance judge
and authorized representatives of the commissioner to be attorneys employed by
the department with specific written delegation of authority; authorizing the
commissioner to conduct de novo reviews with or without argument, prohibiting
the consideration of new evidence, exception; providing for withdrawal of
appeal; requiring a court order for later release of testimony and other
evidence; requiring employer payment for writs of certiorari and transcripts,
prohibiting certain costs to complainants; modifying certain conditions for the
payment of extended benefits; clarifying certain provisions under the shared
work plan and certain income tax and child support withholding requirements;
clarifying the treatment of overpayments and the collection authority of the
commissioner, prohibiting commissioner compromising of determined amounts;
eliminating certain exemptions to the assignment of benefits; changing the
reemployment insurance fund to the reemployment insurance trust fund and
modifying the composition and certain authorized uses of the fund; changing the
economic security administration fund to an account and clarifying and modifying
certain provisions regulating the composition and use of the fund; changing
public employment service offices to job service offices and requiring the
offices to provide reemployment assistance services to claimants; clarifying the
state nonliability and severability clauses; specifying certain renumbering and
term change instructions to the revisor of statutes; repealing certain general
rulemaking authority of the commissioner, certain provisions relating to limits
on and prior decisions relating to the collection of taxes and certain rules
(ra, ja)