370#1s (VEC) VEC: JLARC Recommendation #20. SB30 - Committee Approved

State Budget

2022 Session

Budget Amendments - SB30 (Committee Approved)

Bill Order » Item 370 #1s

View Budget Item
View Budget Item amendments

VEC: JLARC Recommendation #20

Item 370 #1s

Item 370 #1s	First Year - FY2023	Second Year - FY2024
Labor
Virginia Employment Commission	FY2023 $200,000	FY2024 $200,000	GF
	FY2023 2.00	FY2024 2.00	FTE

Language
Page 400, line 13, strike "$712,426,719" and insert "$712,626,719".
Page 400, line 13, strike "$639,054,137" and insert "$639,254,137".

Page 401, after line 13, insert:

"I. The Virginia Employment Commission shall establish and maintain, at a minimum, two dedicated full-time employees to serve in the capacity of an appeals ombudsman to provide impartial information about the unemployment insurance appeals process and help ensure that all parties are afforded due process in such appeals. The Commission shall submit an initial summary report of facts, findings, and outcomes of the appeals ombudsman to the House Commerce and Energy Committee, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, and the Governor by November 1, 2022, and provide a status update to each body quarterly. The VEC shall also publish the summary report and subsequent updates on its website."

Explanation

(This amendment provides funding for two full-time positions to serve as an appeals ombudsman to provide impartial information about the unemployment insurance appeals process and to help ensure that all parties are afforded due process in such appeals consistent with Recommendation 20 of the JLARC Report, "Operations and Performance of the Virginia Employment Commission," from November 2021.)

Item 370

Item 370	First Year - FY2023	Second Year - FY2024
Workforce Systems Services (47000)	$712,426,719	$639,054,137
Job Placement Services (47001)	FY2023 $47,856,967	FY2024 $47,928,392
Unemployment Insurance Services (47002)	FY2023 $663,622,004	FY2024 $590,182,648
Workforce Development Services (47003)	FY2023 $947,748	FY2024 $943,097
Fund Sources:
Special	FY2023 $10,748,905	FY2024 $10,500,443
Trust and Agency	FY2023 $701,677,814	FY2024 $628,553,694

Authority: Title 60.2, Chapters 1 through 6, Code of Virginia.

A. Revenues deposited into the Special Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund shall be used for the purposes set out in the following order of priority: 1) to make payment of any interest owed on loans from the U.S. Treasury for payment of unemployment compensation benefits; 2) to support essential services of the Commission, particularly in the event of reductions in federal funding; 3) to finance the cost of capital projects; and 4) to fund the discretionary fund established in § 60.2-315, Code of Virginia. Funding may be transferred from the capital budget to the operating budget consistent with this language.

B.1. Reed Act funds distributed by the Employment Security Financing Act of 1954 with respect to the federal fiscal years 1956, 1957, and 1958 and credited to the agency from the proceeds related to the sale of agency property with federal equity are hereby appropriated (up to $600,000) to maintain service levels in the agency's local offices.

2. Reed Act funds distributed by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and credited to the unemployment trust fund with respect to federal fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002, under § 1103 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.), as amended, shall be used only for the administration of the unemployment compensation program, under the direction of the Virginia Employment Commission, and shall not be subject to the requirements of § 60.2-305, Code of Virginia. Reed Act funds from the Balanced Budget Act are hereby appropriated (up to $2.2 million, not to exceed the balance of said Reed Act funds) to pay for upgrading the information technology systems at the Virginia Employment Commission.

C. There is hereby appropriated out of the funds made available to this state under § 1103 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.) as amended, the balance of the $51,067,866 of Reed Act funds, if any, provided in Item 120 E. of Chapter 847, 2007 Acts of Assembly, for upgrading obsolete information technology systems, to include staff costs. This appropriation is subject to the provisions of § 60.2-305, Code of Virginia. Savings as a result of the new systems shall be retained by the commission.

D. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all fees incurred by the Virginia Employment Commission with respect to the collection of debts authorized to be collected under § 2.2-4806 of the Code of Virginia, using the Treasury Offset Program of the United States, shall become part of the debt owed the Commission and may be recovered accordingly.

E. Workforce development programs shall give priority to assisting Medicaid enrollees who are required to participate in the Training, Education, Employment and Opportunity Program to the extent allowed by federal law.

F. The Governor shall have the authority to alter the administration of the provisions of the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act, Title 60.2 of the Code of Virginia, to meet the exigencies of a health emergency crisis.

G. The Virginia Employment Commission shall establish and maintain one dedicated full-time customer service position responsible for investigating and responding to legislative inquiries.

H. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Virginia Employment Commission shall compute tax rates by excluding pandemic related claim activity. Any such rate for any employer, may be less than, but shall not exceed the established rate for that employer for Calendar Year 2021. For purposes of this calculation, pandemic related claim activity is defined as all regular Unemployment Insurance claims activity from April 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. The pool charge shall be computed using this same methodology and set at an amount not to exceed the rate in effect for Calendar Year 2021.