SESSION OF 2020
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 2154
As Recommended by Senate Committee on
Commerce

Brief*
Senate Sub. for HB 2154 would make a number of
temporary changes to the state unemployment compensation
system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill would include a policy statement that Kansas is
committed to maintaining and strengthening access to its
unemployment compensation system.
The bill would provide that a claimant is not ineligible for
benefits on the basis of not actively seeking work during a
disaster emergency proclaimed by the Governor and in
response to the spread of COVID-19 and the state has
temporarily waived the work search requirement in
compliance with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
(Families First Act).
Additionally, the bill would waive the waiting week
requirement for new claims filed from April 5, 2020, through
December 26, 2020, in accordance with the Families First Act
and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act.
The bill would require employers to provide any
notifications to individuals in the service of the employer as
required by the Secretary of Labor pursuant to the Families
First Act.
____________________
*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
 For calendar year 2021, the bill would limit
unemployment contribution rates for employers to the
standard rate schedule and prohibit an additional solvency
adjustment.
The bill would provide that benefits paid as a result of
employees being discharged by an employer directly
impacted by COVID-19 in accordance with the Families First
Act would not be charged to the account of the contributing
employer.
Under the bill, payments of unemployment
compensation that are wholly reimbursed to a reimbursing
employer by the federal government shall be charged for the
purpose of such reimbursement under the CARES Act.
The bill also would eliminate the prohibition of negative
account employers participating in shared work plans, but
would provide that shared work plans may be approved only
if the Secretary of Labor determines the contributing
employer does not adversely impact the state’s eligibility
under Section 2108 of the CARES Act, which provides for
federal reimbursement of certain shared work plan payments.
The bill would be in effect upon publication in the
Kansas Register.

Background
The bill as introduced related to unemployment
insurance benefits for furloughed state and federal workers
required to perform work but not paid through the furlough.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, on May 14, 2020,
removed the contents of the bill, inserted the contents
described above, and created a substitute bill.
On May 14, 2020, the Secretary of Labor provided
testimony to the Senate Committee that federal legislation
enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic included
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several categories of expanded federal funding for
unemployment compensation. The Secretary testified that full
receipt of these funds required the unemployment
compensation system to meet certain requirements that were
being satisfied through Executive Orders 20-17 and 20-28.
However, the pending expiration of these orders jeopardized
the further receipt of certain federal unemployment
compensation funds. The Senate Committee created the
substitute bill in response to this concern. A fiscal note on the
substitute bill was not immediately available.


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Statutes affected:
As introduced: 44-703, 44-501, 44-704, 44-705
Version 2: 44-702, 44-705, 44-709, 44-710, 44-757