Report 2020-128/628.1 Recommendation Responses
Report 2020-128/628.1: Employment Development Department: EDD's Poor Planning and Ineffective Management Left It Unprepared to Assist Californians Unemployed by COVID‑19 Shutdowns (Release Date: January 2021)
Recommendation for Legislative Action
To ensure transparency in EDD's operations and provide information to policymakers, the Legislature should require EDD to report on its website at least once every six months the amount of benefit payments for which it must assess potential overpayments, the amount for which it has issued overpayment notices, the amount it has waived overpayment on, and the amount repaid related to those notices. The reports should encompass benefit payments EDD made from March 2020 until the time when it resumes all eligibility determinations. EDD should be required to publish these reports until the repayment period for all the notices has elapsed.
Description of Legislative Action
AB 56 (Chapter 510, Statutes of 2021), in part, requires EDD to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, report at least once every six months on its website specified benefit overpayment information encompassing benefit payments made from March 1, 2020, until the time when EDD resumes all eligibility determinations.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: October 2021
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Enacted
Description of Legislative Action
AB 56 (Salas, 2021), in part, would require EDD to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, report at least once every six months on its website specified benefit overpayment information encompassing benefit payments made from March 1, 2020, until the time when EDD resumes all eligibility determinations. The bill would also require EDD to revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims. Finally, this bill would require EDD to convene two working groups, including one to assess the lessons learned from claim surges, to identify the processes that EDD can still improve, and to issue a report by January 1, 2023.
AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would create the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project within EDD. Under the project, the bill would require EDD to report at least once every six months on its internet website information regarding the amount of benefit payments for which it must assess potential overpayments; the amount for which it has issued overpayment notices; the amount of overpayments waived; and the amount repaid related to those overpayment notices. The reports must encompass benefit payments made by the department from March 1, 2020, until the time when it resumes all eligibility determinations.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: July 2021
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Legislation Introduced
Description of Legislative Action
AB 56 (Salas, 2021), in part, would require EDD to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, report at least once every six months on its website specified benefit overpayment information encompassing benefit payments made from March 1, 2020, until the time when EDD resumes all eligibility determinations. The bill would also require EDD to revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims. Finally, this bill would require EDD to convene two working groups, including one to assess the lessons learned from claim surges, to identify the processes that EDD can still improve, and to issue a report by January 1, 2023.
AB 360 (Patterson, et. al., 2021) would create the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project within EDD. Under the project, the bill would require EDD to report at least once every six months on its internet website information regarding the amount of benefit payments for which it must assess potential overpayments; the amount for which it has issued overpayment notices; the amount of overpayments waived; and the amount repaid related to those overpayment notices. The reports must encompass benefit payments made by the department from March 1, 2020, until the time when it resumes all eligibility determinations.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: May 2021