By: Hernandez, Guillen H.B. No. 3697
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the eligibility for unemployment compensation of
certain employees who leave the workplace to care for a minor child
and to a requirement that the Texas Workforce Commission pilot the
use of certain third-party employment and income information to
assist with determining unemployment benefit eligibility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 207.046(a), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) An individual is not disqualified for benefits under
this subchapter if:
(1) the work-related reason for the individual's
separation from employment was urgent, compelling, and necessary so
as to make the separation involuntary;
(2) the individual leaves the workplace to protect the
individual from family violence or stalking or the individual or a
member of the individual's immediate family from violence related
to a sexual assault as evidenced by:
(A) an active or recently issued protective order
documenting sexual assault of the individual or a member of the
individual's immediate family or family violence against, or the
stalking of, the individual or the potential for family violence
against, or the stalking of, the individual;
(B) a police record documenting sexual assault of
the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or
family violence against, or the stalking of, the individual;
(C) a physician's statement or other medical
documentation that describes the sexual assault of the individual
or a member of the individual's immediate family or family violence
against the individual that:
(i) is recorded in any form or medium that
identifies the individual or member of the individual's immediate
family, as applicable, as the patient; and
(ii) relates to the history, diagnosis,
treatment, or prognosis of the patient; or
(D) written documentation from a family violence
center or rape crisis center that describes the sexual assault of
the individual or a member of the individual's immediate family or
family violence against the individual; [or]
(3) the individual leaves the workplace to care for
the individual's terminally ill spouse as evidenced by a
physician's statement or other medical documentation, but only if
no reasonable, alternative care was available; or
(4) the individual leaves the workplace to care for
the individual's minor child due to an unexpected illness,
accident, or other unforeseeable event, but only if no reasonable,
alternative care was available.
SECTION 2. (a) In this section, "real-time employment and
income information" means up-to-date, non-modeled employment and
income data provided by employers and payroll providers.
(b) In order to improve the timeliness of unemployment
compensation payments, operational efficiencies, and cost savings
and to minimize fraud, the Texas Workforce Commission shall
participate in a no-cost pilot by which the commission shall obtain
real-time employment and income information from a third-party
commercial consumer reporting agency, in accordance with the
federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1681 et seq.),
for the purpose of assisting with the determination of an
individual's eligibility to receive unemployment benefits,
including to conduct an analysis on the pilot.
(c) The Texas Workforce Commission shall report on the value
of integrating real-time employment and income information into
existing verification and eligibility determination procedures and
the potential to identify fraud and produce cost savings.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
207.046(a), Labor Code, applies only to a claim for unemployment
compensation benefits 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.