GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	1 

SENATE BILL 382

Short Title:  Redefine Unemp. Ins. Base Period.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Winner; Ballance, Cooper, Dannelly, Gulley, Hartsell, and Rand.

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Referred to:  Commerce.

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March 12, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT REDEFINING THE BASE PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND ELIMINATING THE ONE AND ONE-HALF TIMES TEST.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 96-8(17) reads as rewritten:
"(17)	a.	Repealed by Session Laws 1977, c. 727, s. 33.
b.	Repealed by Session Laws 1977, c. 727, s. 33.
c.	As to claims filed on or after October 1, 1974, for claimants who do not have a benefit year in progress, 'benefit year' shall mean the one-year period beginning with the first day of a week with respect to which an individual first registers for work and files a valid claim for benefits. A valid claim shall be deemed to have been filed only if such individual, at the time the claim is filed, is unemployed, and has been paid wages in his base period totaling at least five hundred sixty-five dollars and fifty cents ($565.50), and equal to at least one and one-half times his high-quarter wages, which high-quarter wages must equal at least one hundred and fifty dollars ($150.00). As to claims filed on or after August 1, 1981, for claimants who do not have a benefit year in progress, 'benefit year' shall mean the 52 week period beginning with the first day of a week with respect to which an individual first registers for work and files a valid claim for benefits. Provided, however, if the first day of a week with respect to which an individual first registers for work and files a valid claim for benefits is either (i) the first day of a calendar quarter, or (ii) the second day of a calendar quarter followed by a February 29 within one year thereof, 'benefit year' shall mean the one-year period beginning with that first day of the week with respect to which the individual first registers for work and files a valid claim for benefits. A valid claim shall be deemed to have been filed only if such individual, at the time the claim is filed, is unemployed, and has been paid wages in his base period totaling at least six times the average weekly insured wage, obtained in accordance with G.S. 96-8(22), and has been paid wages in at least two quarters of the individual's base period.
d.	Repealed by Session Laws, 1981, c. 160, s. 11."
Section 2.  G.S. 96-8(18) reads as rewritten:
"(18)	'Base period' means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year as defined in subdivision (17) of this section.  If an individual lacks sufficient base period wages in order to establish a benefit year in the manner set forth above, the claimant shall have an alternative base period substituted for the current base period so as not to prevent establishment of a valid claim.  For the purposes of this subdivision, 'alternative base period' means the last four completed calendar quarters."
Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to new initial claims filed on or after September 1, 1997.