SENATE, No. 1113

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 9, 1996

By Senators LYNCH, CODEY, Adler, Kenny, Bryant, Casey, Lipman, Lesniak, Sacco, Baer, Rice, Girgenti, Zane, O'Connor and McGreevey

An Act concerning unemployment insurance benefits and supplementing chapter 21 of Title 43 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. For the purposes of the Emergency Unemployment Benefits Program and as used in this act:

    "Emergency unemployment benefits" means benefits financed entirely by the State and paid to exhaustees pursuant to this act;

    "Emergency unemployment benefit period" means a period not within an extended benefit period which:

    (1) Begins on June 2, 1996; and

    (2) Ends upon the conclusion of the second week after the first week for which there is a State "on" indicator as defined in section 5 of P.L.1970, c.324 (C.43:21-24.11) or other federally-financed supplemental benefits program; or

    (3) If there is no such "on" indicator, ends with the occurrence of either of the following:

    (a) The third week after the first week for which there is a State emergency unemployment benefits "off" indicator; or

    (b) The calendar week after the calendar week in which total expenditures of the emergency unemployment compensation fund Statewide first exceed $500 million.

    There is a State emergency unemployment benefits "off" indicator for any week in which it is determined by the division based on data reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that, for the prior four calendar months, the average total unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) in this State is less than 6.0 percent.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph (3), no emergency unemployment benefits shall be paid after December 1, 1996, except that emergency benefits shall be paid to individuals who established emergency unemployment claims prior to that date. No emergency unemployment benefits shall be paid to any individual after March 1, 1997.

    "Eligibility period" of an exhaustee means the period consisting of the weeks in the exhaustee's benefit year which begin in an emergency unemployment benefit period and, if that benefit year ends in the emergency unemployment benefit period, any weeks thereafter which begin in the period.

    "Exhaustee" means an individual who exhausted all of the regular benefits that were available to the individual pursuant to the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq., (including benefits payable to federal civilian employees and ex-service persons or payable under the combined wage program), after December 2, 1995 and before June 2, 1996, or during any calendar week of the emergency unemployment benefit period. No individual who exhausted all of the available regular benefits prior to December 3, 1995 shall be eligible for emergency unemployment benefits. An individual whose benefit year has expired prior to the beginning of the emergency unemployment benefit period shall not be eligible for those benefits.

    2. During an emergency unemployment benefit period, exhaustees, who otherwise continue to meet the eligibility requirements for regular benefits pursuant to the provisions of the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq., and who are not eligible for any other unemployment benefits, including benefits provided by any federal law extending benefits beyond those provided as regular benefits or extended benefits, may receive weekly emergency unemployment benefits for weeks subsequent to June 2, 1996 in an amount equal to the weekly benefit amount of the individual's most recent regular unemployment benefit claim subject to the provisions of the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq. The maximum emergency unemployment benefits an individual may receive pursuant to this act is 50 percent of the regular unemployment benefits which were payable to the individual pursuant to the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq., (including benefits payable to federal civilian employees and ex-service persons or payable under the combined wage program) in the individual's applicable benefit year.

    3. No employer's account shall be charged for emergency unemployment benefits paid to an unemployed individual pursuant to this act, except for the account of an out-of -State employer who is liable for charges under the Combined Wage Program. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve employers electing to make payments in lieu of contributions pursuant to section 3 or 4 of P.L.1971, c.346 (C.43:21-7.2 or C.43:21-7.3) from reimbursing the unemployment benefits paid to an unemployed individual pursuant to this act.

    Emergency unemployment benefits paid to federal civilian employees shall be charged to the appropriate federal account. Emergency unemployment benefits paid to ex-service persons shall be charged to the unemployment compensation fund.

    4. Emergency unemployment benefits may be paid pursuant to the provisions of this act only with respect to weeks not within an extended benefit period, and not within a period covered by any federal law allowing the filing of new claims extending benefits beyond those provided as regular or extended benefits. If a federal extended benefits period triggers "on," maximum benefits payable to an individual under the federal extended benefits program or any federal supplemental benefits program shall be reduced by an amount equal to that received by the individual under the emergency unemployment benefits program.

    5. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the division shall use appropriate administrative means to insure that emergency unemployment benefits are paid only to individuals who meet the requirements of this act. These administrative actions may include, but shall not be limited to, the following procedure. The division shall match the claimant's social security number against available wage records to insure that no earnings were reported for that claimant by employers under R.S.43:21-14 for periods in which emergency unemployment benefits were paid.

    6. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill establishes an Emergency Unemployment Benefits Program and provides up to 13 weeks of additional unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to claimants who have exhausted their entitlement to regular unemployment benefits. Benefits will be available from the program through February 28, 1997, except that benefits will automatically terminate if any federally funded extended or supplemental benefits program is triggered, or if the total unemployment rate falls below 6% for a four-month period. Total benefit expenditures under the program are capped at $500 million.

    The purpose of this bill is to reduce the hardships that long-term unemployment causes for tens of thousands of laid-off New Jersey workers and their families, such as lost health insurance coverage, severe depression, substance abuse, home mortgage foreclosures, marital breakups and even suicides.

    Since 1991, this State has had the highest rate in the nation of laid-off workers exhausting their UI benefits without being able to find new work. During that time, more than 490,000 New Jersey workers exhausted all federal and State UI benefits. New Jersey's home mortgage foreclosure rate is the highest in the nation, and reached a level during the last recession that was more than twice as high as it was during the recessions of the 1970's and the 1980's. More New Jersey citizens filed for personal bankruptcy in 1995 than in any previous year and their average debt was the highest in the nation.