2014 -- H 7822

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LC005081

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS - UNEMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT

TRUST FUND

     Introduced By: Representative Arthur Handy

     Date Introduced: March 04, 2014

     Referred To: House Finance

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 28 of the General Laws entitled "LABOR AND LABOR

RELATIONS" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 56

UNEMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT TRUST FUND

     28-56-1. Establishment Sources Administration. – (a) There shall be established within

the department of labor and training a special fund to be known as the Rhode Island

Unemployment Management Fund.

     (b) The fund shall be administered by the director of the department of labor and training

or his or her designee, but in no case shall the director incur any liability beyond the amounts paid

into and earned by the fund. All money in the fund shall be mingled and undivided.

     (c) Unexpended balances and any earnings shall not revert to the general fund but shall

remain in the Unemployment Management Trust Fund for use in accord with the purposes of this

chapter.

     (d) The general assembly designates that an appropriation of eight million dollars

($8,000,000) of general revenue shall be deposited into the fund for fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

An appropriation shall be deposited into the fund of five million dollars ($5,000,000) in fiscal

year 2017, and the same amount adjusted for inflation each year thereafter.

     (e) The director of the department of labor and training shall adjust the appropriation for

inflation by applying the annual change in the December Consumer Price Index for All Urban

Consumers (CPI-U), published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department

of Labor, to the indexed appropriation amount used for the prior fiscal year calculation.

     28-56-2. Purpose of fund. -- Monies in the Unemployment Management Trust Fund

shall be used to:

     (1) Fund the provision of benefit claims specialists and employment and training

specialists at the department of labor and training.

     (2) Fund the payment of tuition costs for unemployed individuals at any college or

university operated by the state, as described in § 28-42-81.

     28-56-3. Investment of surplus accounts. -- The general treasurer as custodian of this

account is authorized to invest any monies not immediately necessary for the execution of the

purposes of this account in the class of securities legal for the investment of public funds of this

state.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS - UNEMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT

TRUST FUND

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     This act would create the Unemployment Management Trust Fund to fund the provision

of benefit claims specialists and employment and training specialists at the Department of Labor

and Training and to fund the payment of tuition and costs for unemployed individuals at any

college or university operated by the state.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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LC005081

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