128th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1770		LR 2641(02)
	An Act To Revise Laws Regarding Unemployment That Were Amended or Affected by Recently Enacted Legislation
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
			FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	Projections  FY 2019-20	Projections  FY 2020-21
Appropriations/Allocations
	Federal Expenditures Fund		$0	$812,301	$0	$0
Revenue
	Federal Expenditures Fund		$0	$895,156	$0	$0
	Other Funds		$0	($895,156)	$0	$0
Transfers
	Federal Expenditures Fund		$0	($82,855)	$0	$0
	Other Special Revenue Funds		$0	$82,855	$0	$0
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill includes one-time Federal Expenditures Fund allocations of $812,301 in fiscal year 2018-19 to the Employment Security Services program within the Department of Labor to add a voice mail option to the internet-based system for filing initial and continuing claims for unemployment benefits. A portion of unspent 2009 Reed Act funds will be used to fund the allocations as follows: $627,301 for 11 limited-period Customer Representative Specialist - Benefits positions, $161,000 to add a First in Line feature to the Interactive Voice Response System that manages calls to the claims centers and $24,000 for the annual cost of maintaining the First In Line feature.             The positions will begin on July 1, 2018 and end on June 30, 2019. The department has also indicated that filling eight vacant customer support positions that are already funded along with the new limited-period positions will be sufficient to implement the voice mail system.
	This fiscal note also reflects the transfer for $82,855 in fiscal year 2018-19 to the Department of Labor, Office of the Commissioner's Special Revenue Funds account to cover its share of the department's associated indirect costs in accordance with the federally approved indirect cost plan.
	This legislation also requires the Department to immediately fill certain vacant positions for which funding is available, including Customer Representative Associate, Customer Representative Specialists, Claims Adjudicator, Hearings Examiner, Labor Program Specialist and Field Advisor and Examiner.  A query of the State's data warehouse indicates that there are currently 30 vacant positions with these job class titles. These vacant positions have already been budgeted. The 8 needed for the voice mail system are included in the 30.
	Changes made in this legislation regarding how benefits paid to an eligible individual under the Employment Security Law are charged against the experience rating record of the individual's previous employers will have no fiscal impact on the Unemployment Trust Fund or the employer contribution rate schedule currently in effect.  However, the Department of Labor will incur one-time Federal Expenditures Fund costs of approximately $900,000 in fiscal year 2018-19 to make the necessary programming updates in order to implement the change.  The Department has indicated that it has federal funds available for this purpose.