LEGISLATIVE FISCAL OFFICE
Fiscal Note
Fiscal Note On: HB 459 HLS 21RS 743
Bill Text Version: ENROLLED
Opp. Chamb. Action:
Proposed Amd.:
Sub. Bill For.:
Date: June 15, 2021 8:16 AM Author: FREIBERG
Dept./Agy.: Louisiana Workforce Commission and Board of Regents
Subject: Reporting & Sharing of Occupational Information & Employment Analyst: Monique Appeaning
EMPLOYMENT EN INCREASE GF EX See Note Page 1 of 2
Provides relative to the reporting and sharing of occupational information and employment information
Proposed law adds electronic filing of “occupational information” to the present law. It provides that each employer who is already
reporting occupational information of a form promulgated by the administrator may continue to do so. However, beginning January 1,
2023, all employers subjected to this Section shall report specified occupational information. The occupational information form shall be
submitted electronically along with an employer’s contribution and wage reports as required by the proposed law. Proposed law provides
that when filing quarterly wage reports, each employing unit shall include occupational information, including the Standard Occupational
Classification (SOC) System codes or job title of each employee pursuant to R.S. 23:1531.1(F)(1) as recorded and reported by the
employer. The administrator or his authorized representative shall share the employment data he receives pursuant to this Section with
the Board of Regents to aid in the improvement of workforce development and educational alignment. Proposed law provides that the
administrator shall transmit employment data collected under the proposed law to the Board of Regents for its economic research and
prepare the occupational forecast. Proposed law provides that each employing unit shall keep records of and report quarterly “each
employee’s wage” to the administrator. Summary Continued on Page Two
EXPENDITURES 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 5 -YEAR TOTAL
State Gen. Fd. $0 $555,683 $750,568 $750,568 $750,568 $2,807,387
Agy. Self-Gen. $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Ded./Other $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Federal Funds $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Local Funds $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Annual Total $0 $555,683 $750,568 $750,568 $750,568 $2,807,387
REVENUES 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 5 -YEAR TOTAL
State Gen. Fd. $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Agy. Self-Gen. $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Ded./Other $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Federal Funds SEE BELOW SEE BELOW SEE BELOW SEE BELOW SEE BELOW
Local Funds $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Annual Total
EXPENDITURE EXPLANATION
The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) reports that it currently allows employers to voluntarily submit either job titles or Standard
Occupational Codes (SOC) for its employees when transmitting their quarterly wage reports. Because the proposed law maintains the
status quo for the calendar years 2021 and 2022, there will be no fiscal impact for either year. However, beginning January 1, 2023, the
proposed law requires the LWC, Office of Unemployment Insurance (UI), to reprogram existing computer systems for wages reporting to
collect occupational information. The new requirement will require additional (TO) staff to handle anticipated increased demand on call
center operations, programming, data analysis, and administrative costs to facilitate the new method of managing and collecting wage and
tax reports. As to costs, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) advises the LWC that Title III funds (UI administration grants)
cannot be used to collect the additional data elements. As such, a non-federal source of revenue is necessary to fund the enactment of the
proposed law. Additionally, currently, data elements collected are validated by federally funded staff. LWC reports that new data must be
validated through resources and staff funded through non-federal sources. The agency projects added costs at $555,683 in FY 23 and
$750,568 in FY 24, FY 25 and FY 26, as well as a need for twelve (12) new T.O. positions. To the extent the workload changes after
implementation, LWC will adjust staff levels accordingly and cost assumptions may be adjusted beginning in FY 25. Proposed law is
subject to appropriation of funds.
Operational Impact - LWC reports that previous attempts to reject wage reports for missing or incorrect SOC data caused a decline in
compliance and payments into the UI Trust Fund. Once reports were rejected, employers did not resubmit the required quarterly wage
reports. To preempt potential federal compliance issues, the LWC anticipates it will need the following additional staff to ensure substantial
employer compliance:
-Nine (9) additional UI Staff of the following Classification:
-ORS Specialist 3 (4 additional staff) – UI Tax Call Center
-ORS Specialist 4 (3 additional staff) – UI Tax Adjustments/Benefits Adjustments
-ORS Technical Specialist (1 additional staff)
-Employer Outreach Liaison (1 additional staff)
As a result of the proposed law, LWC anticipated as much as a 50% increase in calls to the UI Tax Call Center; however, this number could
decrease if employer compliance improves before the effective date of the mandate. The department will need additional call center
representatives to assist with the influx in calls and make outgoing calls encouraging employers with rejected reports to make corrections
and resubmit their wage reports. This will require new staff or repositioning of other staff members performing other vital functions –
possibly compromising federal compliance requirements. EXPENDITURE EXPLANATION CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO
REVENUE EXPLANATION
The USDOL advises the LWC that Title III funds (UI Administration grants) cannot be used to collect the additional data elements. As such, a non-federal
source of revenue is necessary to fund the enactment of the proposed law. Additionally, currently, data elements collected are validated by federally funded
staff. New data must be validated through resources and staff funded through non-federal sources. However, based on current compliance rates, rejecting
wage reports from employers that do not provide SOC or job title information would result in a substantial decrease in taxes collected. USDOL advises that
if the rejections lead to claims delays at a substantial level, that could create a substantial noncompliance issue. This weakened trust fund balance can
potentially compromise Louisiana’s ability to pay unemployment benefits.
Senate Dual Referral Rules House
x 13.5.1 >= $100,000 Annual Fiscal Cost {S & H} x 6.8(F)(1) >= $100,000 SGF Fiscal Cost {H & S}
13.5.2 >= $500,000 Annual Tax or Fee Alan M. Boxberger
6.8(G) >= $500,000 Tax or Fee Increase
Change {S & H} or a Net Fee Decrease {S} Staff Director
 LEGISLATIVE FISCAL OFFICE
Fiscal Note
Fiscal Note On: HB 459 HLS 21RS 743
Bill Text Version: ENROLLED
Opp. Chamb. Action:
Proposed Amd.:
Sub. Bill For.:
Date: June 15, 2021 8:16 AM Author: FREIBERG
Dept./Agy.: Louisiana Workforce Commission and Board of Regents
Subject: Reporting & Sharing of Occupational Information & Employment Analyst: Monique Appeaning
CONTINUED EXPLANATION from page one: Page 2 of 2
Summary Continued From Page One
Proposed law provides that there shall be no penalty assessed against an employer for failing to report, or timely report, an employee’s
occupational code or job title or an employee’s hourly rate of pay. Proposed law provides that any results or reports produced from the
data shall be aggregated by occupation, municipality, parish, or instructional program before its release to ensure employer and employee
confidentiality is maintained. Proposed law provides, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Section, the Louisiana Workforce
Commission shall, upon request from the Board of Regents, share employment data related to specific students to determine their
employment progress upon leaving a university or college within the Board of Regent’s purview.
EXPENDITURE EXPLANATION CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
LWC reports that its mainframe automatically calculates interests and penalties due to delinquent reports. Currently, Delinquent Accounts
staff make manual adjustments to an average of 1,600 employers' accounts quarterly for various reasons. Based on 2020 compliance
rates, LWC estimates that an additional 25,000 account adjustments may be necessary. LWC reports it cannot absorb this workload
without additional staff. There will also be a considerable training curve for new Delinquent Accounts staff, as more seasoned employees
generally perform this function.
Benefit Adjustment Staff – if rejected wages are not resubmitted timely, there will be a continuous increase in age records investigations.
Wage information used to compute unemployment insurance benefits will have to be manually solicited to ensure that benefit payments
are properly calculated and that improper payments are minimized.
LWC reports that it will realize a significant workload increase to implement the provisions of proposed law. The department will be
required to program validations that ensure the accuracy of submitted SOC information. Employee outreach staff will be required to
educate employers and agents on why and how to submit the enhanced wage elements. Also, UI Tax staff will be required to ensure
compliance with the new reporting requirements.
While there are approximately 800 SOC codes, there are millions of job titles with some job titles specific to industry. LWC staff will need
to convert job titles to SOC codes and contact employers to confirm bogus or non-specific job titles. Previous attempts to validate wage
reports resulted in numerous rejections for missing or incorrect SOC data. To validate new data submitted under non-federal
requirements, the LWC anticipates it will need the following additional staff to ensure wage record validity:
Three (3) additional Research & Statistical Labor Market Information Staff of the following Classification:
Program Analyst (1 additional position) – Web Unit Research and Statistics
Statistical Technician 1 (2 additional staff) Labor Market Information Units
LWC anticipates as much as a 75% increase in data collected. The department will need additional Labor Market Information (LMI)
representatives to create validation models for survey validation similar to what the Bureau of Labor Statistics currently runs to sample for
data validity and corrections.
The current 140,000 business sites reporting federal wage data do not include any site not paying into the unemployment trust fund, nor
does it include sites with less than ten (10) employees. LWC anticipates increased data collection and data errors due to initial filings and
unfamiliarity with new requirements. This data will have to be analyzed for blatant errors and outlier corrections. The LMI unit
representatives would then have to take survey samples for corrections and validation of data submissions. If found to be erroneous,
these businesses would have to be contacted and corrections requested. Updates would have to be made to submissions, records, and
reports. Attention cannot be taken from current and ongoing federal mandated data validation efforts to undertake new validations to
ensure the accuracy of newly submitted wage information; therefore, additional staff will be needed.
The LFO cannot corroborate that the workload necessitated by this measure will require the number of personnel detailed
by the LWC. To the extent the workload may be less than estimated, the number of personnel and total expenditures may
decrease accordingly.
Board of Regents (BOR) reports the proposed law will create no expenditure impact for the Board. BOR reports that in 2018, BOR and
LWC signed an agreement for a pilot program for BOR to receive LWC occupational data. BOR received the data and the economist utilized
by BOR and LWC deemed the data reliable. In addition, BOR agreed to pay up to $10,000 for any technology costs associated with the
data transfer. However, no funds were used as there were no additional costs.
Senate Dual Referral Rules House
x 13.5.1 >= $100,000 Annual Fiscal Cost {S & H} x 6.8(F)(1) >= $100,000 SGF Fiscal Cost {H & S}
13.5.2 >= $500,000 Annual Tax or Fee Alan M. Boxberger
6.8(G) >= $500,000 Tax or Fee Increase
Change {S & H} or a Net Fee Decrease {S} Staff Director


Statutes affected:
HB459 Original: 23:1660(A)
HB459 Engrossed: 23:1660(A)
HB459 Enrolled: 23:1660(A)
HB459 Act 474: 23:1660(A)