WEST virginia legislature

2022 regular session

Committee Substitute

for

Senate Bill 2

By Senator Takubo

[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary; reported on February 2, 2022]

A BILL to amend and reenact §21A-2D-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, as contained in Chapter 273, Acts of the Legislature, Regular Session, 2021; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §21A-2D-2a; to amend and reenact §21A-2D-3 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new article, designated §21A-3-1, §21A-3-2, and §21A-3-3; and to amend and reenact §21A-6-10 of said code, all relating to indexing unemployment benefits based on the state average unemployment rate; modifying methodology for calculating maximum benefit rate; modifying benefit table consistent with adoption of indexing; requiring Workforce West Virginia Commissioner take certain actions to verify unemployment insurance claim program integrity; requiring commissioner to review suspicious or potentially improper claims under certain circumstances; defining “state average unemployment rate”; limiting the maximum duration of unemployment benefits based on the “state average unemployment rate”; requiring Workforce West Virginia to promulgate legislative rules; establishing an internal effective date; reducing maximum benefit for each wage class; and removing chart column made incorrect by adoption of indexing.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2D.  UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM INTEGRITY ACT.

§21A-2D-2. Unemployment insurance program integrity.

The commissioner shall, on a weekly basis, unless otherwise specified: be required to

(a) (1) Check the unemployment insurance rolls against the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s list of imprisoned individuals to verify eligibility for unemployment benefits and ensure program integrity;

(b) (2) Check new hire records against the National Directory of New Hires to verify eligibility for unemployment benefits; and

(c) (3) Check the unemployment insurance rolls against a commercially available database that provides cross-matching functions to verify eligibility for unemployment benefits;

(4) On a monthly basis, cross-check the unemployment insurance rolls against state death records; and

(5) Verify the identity of unemployment claimants by methods including, but not limited to, verifying the identity of an applicant prior to awarding benefits and requiring multi-factor authentication as part of online applications.

§21A-2D-2a. Automatic claim review.

The commissioner shall perform a full eligibility review of suspicious or potentially improper claims in cases including, but not limited to:

(1) Multiple or duplicative claims filed online originating from the same IP address;

(2) Claims filed online from foreign IP addresses;

(3) Multiple or duplicative claims filed that are associated with the same mailing address; and

(4) Multiple or duplicative claims filed that are associated with the same bank account.

§21A-2D-3. Data sharing.

The commissioner shall have the authority to may execute a memorandum of understanding exchange information with any department, agency, or division for information required to be shared between agencies outlined in this article as necessary to carry out the requirements of this article.

ARTICLE 3. Unemployment BENEFITS Indexing.

§21A-3-1. Duration of benefits; calculation.

(a) For the purposes of this article, “state average unemployment rate” means the average of the seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for the months comprising the previous quarter of the most recent calendar year as published by Workforce West Virginia.

(b) For all valid unemployment compensation claims submitted during a calendar year, the maximum duration of benefits will be as follows:

(1) If the state average unemployment rate is below 5.5 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 12 weeks;

(2) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 5.5 percent, but below 6.0 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 13 weeks;

(3) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 6.0 percent, but below 6.5 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 14 weeks;

(4) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 6.5 percent, but below 7.0 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 15 weeks;

(5) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 7.0 percent, but below 7.5 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 16 weeks;

(6) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 7.5 percent, but below 8.0 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 17 weeks;

(7) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 8.0 percent, but below 8.5 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 18 weeks;

(8) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 8.5 percent, but below 9.0 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 19 weeks; and

(9) If the state average unemployment rate is at or above 9.0 percent, the maximum duration of benefits will be limited to 20 weeks.

§21A-3-2. Rulemaking.

Workforce West Virginia shall promulgate legislative rules to carry out the requirements of this article in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code.

§21A-3-3. Effective date.

The provisions of this article shall take effect on January 1, 2023.

ARTICLE 6. EMPLOYEE ELIGIBILITY; BENEFITS.

§21A-6-10. Benefit rate — Total unemployment; annual computation and publication of rates.

(a) Each eligible individual who is totally unemployed in any week shall be paid benefits with respect to that week at the weekly rate appearing in Column (C) in the benefit table in this section, on the line on which in Column (A) there is indicated the employee’s wage class, except as otherwise provided under the term “total and partial unemployment” in §21A-1A-27 of this code. The employee’s wage class shall be determined by his or her base period wages as shown in Column (B) in the benefit table. The right of an employee to receive benefits shall may not be prejudiced nor the amount thereof be diminished by reason of failure by an employer to pay either the wages earned by the employee or the contribution due on such wages. An individual who is totally unemployed but earns in excess of $60 as a result of odd job or subsidiary work, or is paid a bonus in any benefit week shall be paid benefits for such week in accordance with the provisions of this chapter pertaining to benefits for partial unemployment.

(b) (1) The maximum benefit for each wage class shall be equal to twenty-six times the weekly benefit rate the employee’s weekly benefit rate multiplied by the maximum number of weeks available as determined by §21A-3-1.

(2) The maximum benefit rate shall be 66 and two-thirds percent of the average weekly wage in West Virginia.

(c) On July 1 of each year, the commissioner shall determine the maximum weekly benefit rate upon the basis of the formula set forth above and shall establish wage classes as are required, increasing or decreasing the amount of the base period wages required for each wage class by $150, establishing the weekly benefit rate for each wage class by rounded dollar amount to be 55 percent of one fifty-second  of the median dollar amount of wages in the base period for such wage class and establishing the maximum benefit for each wage class as an amount equal to twenty-six times the weekly benefit rate the employee’s weekly benefit rate multiplied by the maximum number of weeks available as determined by §21A-3-1: Provided, That the commissioner shall may not increase or decrease the maximum weekly benefit rate for the period beginning on the effective date of the amendment and reenactment of this section in the regular session of the Legislature in 2009 until the threshold wage is reduced to $9,000, as required by §21A-1A-28(d) of this code. The maximum weekly benefit rate, when computed by the commissioner, in accordance with the foregoing provisions, shall be rounded to the next lowest multiple of $1.

(d) After he or she has established such the wage classes, the commissioner shall prepare and publish a table setting forth such that information.

(e) Average weekly wage shall be computed by dividing the number of employees in West Virginia earning wages in covered employment into the total wages paid to employees in West Virginia in covered employment, and by further dividing said the result by 52, and shall be determined from employer wage and contribution reports for the previous calendar year which are furnished to the department on or before June 1 following such calendar year. The average weekly wage, as determined by the commissioner, shall be rounded to the next higher dollar.

(f) The computation and determination of rates as aforesaid shall be completed annually before July 1 and any such new wage class, with its corresponding wages in base period, weekly benefit rate, and maximum benefit in a benefit year established by the commissioner in the foregoing manner effective on July 1 shall apply only to a new claim established by a claimant on and after July 1, and does not apply to continued claims of a claimant based on his or her new claim established before said July 1.

BENEFIT TABLE