Unemployment benefits: chip-enabled cards.

Existing law provides for unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Under existing law, these provisions are generally administered by the Employment Development Department. Existing law requires unemployment compensation benefits that are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice to be deposited to a qualifying account, which includes a prepaid card account that meets certain requirements. Existing law includes in the definition of prepaid card or prepaid card account a card, code, or other means of access to funds of a recipient that is usable at multiple, unaffiliated merchants for goods or services, or usable at automated teller machines. This bill would revise the definition of prepaid card or prepaid card account by requiring cards to be chip-enabled, as defined. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.