81R8142 KSD-D
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 945
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to unemployment compensation benefits.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 201, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 201.013 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.013. DEFINITION OF BASE PERIOD; ALTERNATE BASE
PERIODS. (a) For purposes of this subtitle and subject to this
section, an individual's base period is the four consecutive
completed calendar quarters, prescribed by the commission, in the
five consecutive completed calendar quarters preceding the first
day of an individual's benefit year.
(b) For an individual precluded because of a medically
verifiable injury or illness from working during a major part of a
calendar quarter of the period that would otherwise be the
individual's base period under Subsection (a), the base period is
the first four calendar quarters of the five consecutive calendar
quarters preceding the calendar quarter in which the illness began
or the injury occurred if the individual files an initial claim for
benefits not later than 24 months after the date on which the
individual's injury or illness began or occurred.
(c) For an individual who does not have sufficient benefit
wage credits to qualify for benefits under the computation of the
base period as provided by Subsection (a) or (b), the base period is
the four most recently completed calendar quarters preceding the
first day of the individual's benefit year.
SECTION 2. Section 207.021, Labor Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) An individual is available for work for purposes of
Subsection (a)(4) even if the individual is available only for
part-time work if:
(1) the individual establishes to the satisfaction of
the commission that the individual has a legitimate reason to limit
the individual's employment to part-time work; and
(2) the individual's last work was part-time work.
SECTION 3. Section 207.045(d), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an
individual who is available to work may not be disqualified for
benefits because the individual left work because of:
(1) a medically verified illness of the individual or
the individual's minor child;
(2) injury;
(3) disability;
(4) pregnancy;
(5) an involuntary separation as described by Section
207.046; [or]
(6) a move from the area of the individual's employment
that:
(A) was made with the individual's spouse who is
a member of the armed forces of the United States; and
(B) resulted from the spouse's permanent change
of station of longer than 120 days or a tour of duty of longer than
one year; or
(7) a move to a location from which it is impractical
for the individual to commute that:
(A) was made with the individual's spouse who is
not a member of the armed forces of the United States; and
(B) resulted from a change in the location of the
spouse's employment.
SECTION 4. The following provisions are repealed:
(1) Section 201.011(1), Labor Code; and
(2) Section 207.045(c), Labor Code.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits based on a claim
that is filed with the Texas Workforce Commission on or after the
effective date of this Act. A claim filed before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the claim
was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.