Unemployment: Self-Employment Assistance Program.

Existing law provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits during the period that a person is unemployed. Existing law imposes various requirements on the payments of benefits, including work search requirements. Existing law also establishes retraining programs for unemployed workers. Prior law, enacted in 1994 and repealed in 2005, established the Self-Employment Assistance Program for displaced workers.This bill would reestablish the Self-Employment Assistance Program, to be administered by the Director of the Employment Development Department. The bill would provide for a weekly allowance for participants equal to regular unemployment benefits, subject to various limits, and would waive requirements relating to job search and self-employment, as specified. The bill would impose various eligibility requirements upon participants and would require the director to review the implementation of the program and submit information summarizing its operation and effectiveness to the Assembly Insurance Committee and the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. The bill would remain effective until January 1, 2017.Since the benefits would be payable from the continuously appropriated Unemployment Fund, the bill would make an appropriation.The self-employment program provisions of the bill would apply to weeks beginning after approval of the United States Department of Labor.