Sec. 23.20.085. - Interstate benefit payments.
(a) The department shall enter into reciprocal arrangements with appropriate and duly authorized agencies of other states or of the federal government, or both, so that potential rights to benefits under this chapter may constitute the basis for payment of claims by another state or by the federal government and potential rights to benefits accumulated under the law of another state or of the federal government may constitute the basis for the payment of claims by this state. These claims shall be paid under the provisions of this chapter or under the provisions of the law of the other state or of the federal government or under that combination of the provisions of both laws as is agreed upon as being fair and reasonable to all affected interests. An arrangement under this section may not be entered into unless it contains provision for reimbursement to the fund for those claims paid on the basis of wages and service subject to the law of another state or of the federal government, and provision for reimbursement from the fund for those claims paid by another state or by the federal government on the basis of wages and service subject to this chapter. Reimbursements paid from the fund under this section are considered to be benefits for the purposes of this chapter.
(b) The department shall participate in any arrangements for the payment of benefits on the basis of combining an individual's wages and employment covered under this chapter with the individual's wages and employment covered under the unemployment insurance laws of other states which are approved by the United States Secretary of Labor in consultation with the state employment security agencies as reasonably calculated to assure the prompt and full payment of benefits in such situations and which arrangements shall include provisions for
(1) applying the base period of a single state law to a claim involving the combining of an individual's wages and employment covered under two or more state unemployment insurance laws, and
(2) avoiding the duplicate use of wages and employment by reason of the combining.
(c) In this section, the terms "other state" and "another state" include any state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Canada, and where applicable include the federal government.