48-621 Employment Security Administration Fund; Employment Security Special Contingent Fund; created; use; investment; federal funds; treatment.
48-621. Employment Security Administration Fund; Employment Security Special Contingent Fund; created; use; investment; federal funds; treatment.(1) The administrative fund shall consist of the Employment Security Administration Fund and the Employment Security Special Contingent Fund. Each fund shall be maintained as a separate and distinct account in all respects, as follows:(a) There is hereby created in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the Employment Security Administration Fund. All money credited to this fund is hereby appropriated and made available to the Commissioner of Labor. All money in this fund shall be expended solely for the purposes and in the amounts found necessary as defined by the specific federal programs, state statutes, and contract obligations for the proper and efficient administration of all programs of the Department of Labor. The fund shall consist of all money appropriated by this state and all money received from the United States of America or any agency thereof, including the Department of Labor and the Railroad Retirement Board, or from any other source for such purpose. Money received from any agency of the United States or any other state as compensation for services or facilities supplied to such agency, any amounts received pursuant to any surety bond or insurance policy for losses sustained by the Employment Security Administration Fund or by reason of damage to equipment or supplies purchased from money in such fund, and any proceeds realized from the sale or disposition of any equipment or supplies which may no longer be necessary for the proper administration of such programs shall also be credited to this fund. All money in this fund shall be deposited, administered, and disbursed in the same manner and under the same conditions and requirements as is provided by law for other special funds in the state treasury. Any balances in this fund, except balances of money therein appropriated from the General Fund of this state, shall not lapse at any time but shall be continuously available to the commissioner for expenditure consistent with the Employment Security Law. Any money in the Employment Security Administration Fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act; and(b) There is hereby created in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the Employment Security Special Contingent Fund. Any money in the Employment Security Special Contingent Fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act. All money collected under section 48-655 as interest on delinquent contributions, less refunds, shall be credited to this fund from the clearing account of the Unemployment Compensation Fund at the end of each calendar quarter. Such money shall not be expended or available for expenditure in any manner which would permit its substitution for or a corresponding reduction in federal funds which would in the absence of such money be available to finance expenditures for the administration of the unemployment insurance law, but nothing in this section shall prevent the money from being used as a revolving fund to cover expenditures necessary and proper under the law for which federal funds have been duly requested but not yet received, subject to the charging of such expenditures against such federal funds when received. The money in this fund may be used by the Commissioner of Labor only as follows:(i) To replace within a reasonable time any money received by this state pursuant to section 302 of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, and required to be paid under section 48-622;(ii) To meet special extraordinary and contingent expenses which are deemed essential for good administration but which are not provided in grants from the Secretary of Labor of the United States and, for this purpose, no expenditures shall be made from this fund except on written authorization by the Governor at the request of the Commissioner of Labor;(iii) To be transferred to the Nebraska Community College Aid Cash Fund; and(iv) To be transferred to the Job Training Cash Fund.(2)(a) Money credited to the account of this state in the Unemployment Trust Fund by the United States Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to section 903 of the Social Security Act may not be requisitioned from this state's account or used except for the payment of benefits and for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of the Employment Security Law and public employment offices. Such money may be requisitioned pursuant to section 48-619 for the payment of benefits. Such money may also be requisitioned and used for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of the Employment Security Law and public employment offices but only pursuant to a specific appropriation by the Legislature and only if the expenses are incurred and the money is requisitioned after the date of enactment of an appropriation law which specifies the purposes for which such money is appropriated and the amounts appropriated therefor. Such appropriation is subject to the following conditions:(i) The period within which such money may be obligated is limited to a period ending not more than two years after the effective date of the appropriation law; and(ii) The amount which may be obligated is limited to an amount which does not exceed the amount by which the aggregate of the amounts transferred to the account of this state pursuant to section 903 of the Social Security Act exceeds the aggregate of the amounts used by this state pursuant to the Employment Security Law and charged against the amounts transferred to the account of this state.(b) For purposes of subdivision (2)(a)(ii) of this section, the amounts obligated under an appropriation for the administrative purposes described in such subdivision shall be charged against transferred amounts at the exact time the obligation is entered into.(c) The appropriation, obligation, and expenditure or other disposition of money appropriated under this subsection shall be accounted for in accordance with standards established by the United States Secretary of Labor.(d) Money appropriated as provided in this subsection for the payment of expenses of administration shall be requisitioned as needed for the payment of obligations incurred under such appropriation and, upon requisition, shall be credited to the Employment Security Administration Fund from which such payments shall be made. Money so credited shall, until expended, remain a part of the Employment Security Administration Fund and, if it will not be immediately expended, shall be returned promptly to the account of this state in the Unemployment Trust Fund.(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (2)(a) of this section, money credited with respect to federal fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 shall be used solely for the administration of the unemployment compensation program and are not subject to appropriation by the Legislature.(3) There is hereby appropriated out of the funds made available to this state in federal fiscal year 2002 under section 903(d) of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, the sum of $6,800,484, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be used, under the direction of the Department of Labor, for the administration of the Employment Security Law and public employment offices. The expenditure or other disposition of money appropriated under this subsection shall be accounted for in accordance with standards established by the United States Secretary of Labor. Reed Act distributions appropriated pursuant to this subsection may be amortized with federal grant funds provided pursuant to Title III of the federal Social Security Act and the federal Wagner-Peyser Act for the purpose of administering the state unemployment compensation and employment service programs to the extent allowed under such acts and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto. Except as specifically provided in this subsection, all provisions of subsection (2) of this section, except subdivision (2)(a)(i) of this section, shall apply to this appropriation. The commissioner shall submit an annual report to the Governor, the Speaker of the Legislature, and the chairpersons of the Appropriations Committee and the Business and Labor Committee of the Legislature describing expenditures made pursuant to this subsection. SourceLaws 1937, c. 108, § 13, p. 397; Laws 1939, c. 56, § 10, p. 248; Laws 1941, c. 94, § 10, p. 398; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-712; R.S.1943, § 48-621; Laws 1947, c. 175, § 6, p. 574; Laws 1949, c. 163, § 5, p. 421; Laws 1957, c. 208, § 3, p. 729; Laws 1969, c. 584, § 50, p. 2375; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 17; Laws 1989, LB 305, § 4; Laws 1994, LB 1066, § 38; Laws 1995, LB 1, § 5; Laws 1996, LB 1072, § 3; Laws 1999, LB 608, § 2; Laws 2000, LB 953, § 6; Laws 2003, LB 197, § 1. Cross ReferencesNebraska Capital Expansion Act, see section 72-1269.Nebraska State Funds Investment Act, see section 72-1260.