2021 Legislative Session Bills that Passed that Affect

2021 Legislative Session – Bills that Passed that Affect ESD MAY 24, 2021 EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 1

Agenda Bills by topic: § Unemployment Insurance § Paid Family and Medical Leave and Long-Term Services and Supports § Miscellaneous EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 2

Unemployment Insurance Bills EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 3

Several large unemployment insurance-related bills; most in direct response to the pandemic: § ESSB 5190 – Health Care Worker Benefits § ESSB 5193 – Adjudicators / Unemployment Insurance System Enhancements § ESSB 5061 – Governor's Unemployment Insurance Bill § ESSB 5478 – Unemployment Insurance Employer Relief Account § SHB 1483 – Job Search Monitoring § SSB 5425 – Unemployment Extended Benefits § ESSB 5092 Sec. 225(11) – Report on Unemployment Insurance / Immigration Status EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 4

ESSB 5190 – Health care workers benefits § Makes health care employees who left work to quarantine during a public health emergency eligible for unemployment insurance benefits § Provides presumptive workers' compensation coverage for health care employees who are in quarantine or contract the disease that is the subject of a public health emergency § For health care facility employers who terminate health care workers who provide direct patient care for entering quarantine, ESD will now charge them 100% of the benefit charges of the claim *Applies to claims on or after 7/4/21 EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 5

ESSB 5193 – Adjudicators / Unemployment Insurance System Enhancements ESD will: § Plain talk correspondence and create online data dashboard § Create and implement unemployment insurance adjudicator training program § Have advisory committee explore: o Thresholds for triggers to adjust staff o Creating a pilot for caseworkers to assist claimants EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 6

ESSB 5061 – Governor's Unemployment Insurance Bill Changes including but not limited to: § Change regarding “able and available” for high-risk workers § Adding a basis for voluntary quits for claimants who are – or live with someone who is – high-risk § Preparing an annual report to the Legislature on the impacts of adjusting the taxable wage base and the minimum weekly benefit amount EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 7

ESSB 5478 – Unemployment Insurance Employer Relief Account § Creates an unemployment insurance relief account § Purpose: To buy down unemployment benefit charges for employers whose experience tax rates will increase in 2022 EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 8

SHB 1483 – Job Search Monitoring § Provides authority to gradually phase work search requirements back into effect EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 9

SSB 5425 – Unemployment Extended Benefits § Allows claimants to receive all eligible extended benefits even if their 52 -week UI benefit year has expired § Waives 13 -week freeze period when reevaluating extended benefit triggers EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 10

ESSB 5092 Section 225(11) [Budget Proviso] – § Report on feasibility of replicating unemployment insurance program to serve people who aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance because of their immigration status Report on Unemployment Insurance / Immigration Status EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 11

Paid Family and Medical Leave and Long-Term Services and Supports Bills EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 12

Several large bills affecting Paid Family and Medical Leave and Long. Term Services and Supports [Leave and Care Division]: § E 2 SHSB 1073 – Paid Leave Coverage: Expansion of Qualifying Period § ESSB 5097 – Paid Leave Coverage: Definition of Family Member § ESSB 5092 Section 225(5) - PFML Outreach § SHB 1323 – Long-Term Services Trust EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 13

E 2 SHSB 1073 – Paid Leave Coverage: Expansion of Qualifying Period § Provides grants to certain employees who aren’t eligible for Paid Family and Medical Leave benefits because they had insufficient hours during the pandemic § Provides grants to smaller employers with employees taking leave in receipt of a grant EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 14

ESSB 5097 Paid Leave Coverage: Definition of Family Member § Expands definition of "family member” to any individual who regularly resides in the employee's home or where the relationship creates an expectation that the employee care for the person, and that individual depends on the employee for care § Requires legislative report on implementation and utilization § General fund will cover additional expense from the 501 st employee onwards EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 15

ESSB 5092 Section 225(5) [Budget Proviso] – § PFML will coordinate outreach with a statewide family resource system for prenatal to age five § Annual report on this topic to the Governor and Legislature PFML Outreach EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 16

SHB 1323 – Long-Term Services Trust § Requires: ◦ People to buy private long-term care insurance before 11/1/21 if they want to qualify for the exemption ◦ Permanent opt-in for self-employed individuals who choose to participate ◦ The Long-Term Services and Supports Commission to work with insurers to develop insurance products to supplement the program's benefits EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 17

Miscellaneous EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 18

Last but not least: a bill that affects both unemployment insurance and Leave and Care work § SHB 1455 – Social Security Numbers EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 19

SHB 1455 – Social Security Numbers ESD will: § Examine communications with third-party nongovernmental entities that contain full Social Security numbers (SSNs) § Identify communications for which the federal government does not require the use of SSNs § For those communications, replace the use of full SSNs with other forms of personal identifiers EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 20

Questions? EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT 21