Section 25-4-40.1 Employment Security Enhancement Fund.

(a) Retroactive to April 1, 1992, there is hereby placed upon all wages so defined in Section 25-4-16, paid to employees by employers subject to pay contributions as provided in Sections 25-4-51 and 25-4-54, except as is hereinafter provided in this section, a special assessment of 0.06 percent (six one-hundredths of one percent) of such wages. This assessment shall not apply to wages paid during any calendar quarter of any calendar year by any employer whose rate of contribution has been computed under the provisions of Section 25-4-54 to be at least 5.40 percent but not more than 5.45 percent for such calendar year, to any employer who for such calendar year has elected to make payments in lieu of contributions pursuant to Section 25-4-51, nor to any employer who has not had sufficient unemployment experience to qualify for a rate determination under Section 25-4-54 for such calendar year. (1) Assessments under this section shall become due and payable at the end of each calendar quarter which begins after March 31, 1992, and shall be paid in accordance with regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary at the same time and in the same manner as employers are required by this chapter to file reports and pay contributions and shall not be deducted, in whole or in part, from any remuneration of individuals in the employ of the employer. (2) The provisions of Sections 25-4-132 and 25-4-133, relating to the assessment of interest and penalties for delinquent reporting or payments and the procedures for the collection of delinquent reports and payments shall apply to the assessment prescribed by this section. Any interest or penalty so assessed and collected shall be deposited or transferred to the Special Employment Security Administration Fund provided for in subsection (b) of Section 25-4-142. (3) All moneys collected as assessments pursuant to this section shall be promptly deposited in the clearing account of the Unemployment Compensation Fund only for the purpose of transfer and, as soon as practicable to do so, shall be transferred into the Employment Security Enhancement Fund in the State Treasury. (b) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund, to be known as the Employment Security Enhancement Fund, into which shall be deposited or transferred all funds collected retroactive to April 1, 1992, pursuant to the assessment made by Section 25-4-32. All moneys 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. All moneys in this fund shall be continuously available to the secretary for expenditure in accordance with this chapter, and shall not lapse at any time. These funds shall not be expended or made available for expenditure in any manner which would permit their substitution for federal funds, which would, in the absence of the moneys, be available to finance expenditures for the administration of the state unemployment compensation and employment service laws. (c) The moneys in the Employment Security Enhancement Fund are authorized and are hereby appropriated for use by the secretary as follows: (1) Special claimant assistance program. a. Moneys in this fund may be expended to supplement basic employment security services with special job search and job placement assistance designed to assist unemployment compensation claimants obtain employment. b. The secretary shall appoint an overview committee consisting of five members and composed of the Director of Employment Service, the Director of Unemployment Compensation, and the Director of the Labor Market Information Division of the department, one member representing employers and selected by the Business Council of Alabama (or successor organization), and one member selected to represent employees by the Alabama Labor Council (or successor organization). The committee members shall be selected as soon after approval of this amendment as is practicable. c. The duties of the overview committee shall include the initial planning of the claimant assistance program as to content and procedures, the determination of standards, criteria, statistical requirements, and reporting needs, monitoring the progress of the program, and measuring the results and making recommendations to the secretary. d. All members of this committee shall serve without remuneration, however, shall be reimbursed for any and all necessary expenses incurred during the performance of their duties in the same manner and under the same regulations as apply to state employees. Such expenses are to be paid from the Employment Security Enhancement Fund. (2) General administration and enhancement of employment security. Necessary and appropriate costs of employment security enhancements, not in conflict with the foregoing or state or federal laws, rules, or regulations, may be paid from this fund at the discretion of the secretary. (3) The costs of the collection of revenues, for the maintenance of the fund and the repayment of advances to the fund from other sources shall be paid from this fund. (4) The secretary shall submit a special report at the end of each calendar year to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives giving an accounting of collections and expenditures, and an assessment of the success of programs funded from this source. (d) Any interest earned on money in this special fund shall accrue to the Employment Security Enhancement Fund. (e) In the event there is a cessation of the activities and purposes of the programs to be funded by moneys from this fund, all remaining moneys in the Employment Security Enhancement Fund, within 90 calendar days after all outstanding obligations of the secretary related to this fund have been fulfilled, shall be transferred into the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund on deposit with the U.S. Treasury.