A06682 Summary:

BILL NO    A06682 

SAME AS    Same as S 3824

SPONSOR    Townsend (MS)

COSPNSR    Butler, Crouch, Kolb, Lopez P, Saladino

MLTSPNSR   Barclay, Finch, Jordan, Sayward, Thiele

Amd S599, Lab L

Provides for the preservation of a claimant's eligibility for unemployment
insurance benefits while the claimant is studying to become a certified teacher
or a registered professional nurse in a training program that does not take
more than 48 months to complete.

A06682 Actions:

BILL NO    A06682 

03/11/2009 referred to labor
01/06/2010 referred to labor

A06682 Votes:

A06682 Memo:

BILL NUMBER:A6682

TITLE  OF BILL:  An act to amend the labor law, in relation to the pres-
ervation of eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits for  persons
participating  in  training  programs  leading  to becoming a registered
professional nurse or certified teacher

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: Allows  unemployment  insurance  claim-
ants,  attending  certain teacher and nurse training programs to partic-
ipate in the 599 training program.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 amends the Labor Law to  allow
unemployment  insurance  claimants, attending forty-eight month training
programs designed to educate the claimant to become a registered profes-
sional nurse or a certified teacher, to participate in the 599 unemploy-
ment insurance program.

Section 2 contains the effective date of the act.

JUSTIFICATION: Under current law, unemployed workers who participate  in
the  training  programs  that  require  more  than twenty-four months to
complete are not allowed to participate in the 599  unemployment  insur-
ance  program.  Claimants  who  are approved for the 599 program are not
required to be available for or work while attending an approved  train-
ing  program. When funding is available, some claimants participating in
the 599 program are also entitled to additional unemployment benefits if
their regular benefits expire.

Today, there is a statewide shortage of  nurses  and  teachers.  As  the
average  age  of  both  nurses and teachers keeps increasing, retirement
will cause an even greater shortage in the upcoming years. In  addition,
the  number of registered nurse graduations has been declining annually,
further contributing to the shortage and negatively impacting the quali-
ty and availability of patient care in New York State. Also, the  number
of  students  graduating  with  teaching degrees will be insufficient to
refill those positions of teachers who leave employment in the  upcoming
years, resulting in schools with inadequate ratios of qualified teachers
per students.

Since  most  teacher and registered nurse training programs require more
than twenty-four months to complete,  unemployment  insurance  claimants
attending  these  programs  are  not  eligible to participate in the 599
program. This legislation would  provide  an  incentive  for  unemployed
workers to enter nurse and teacher training programs.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2007-2008:  A.5221,  referred to Labor, held for consideration in Labor.
2006: A.4342, held for consideration in Labor 2004: A.3525, referred  to
Labor

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.