Second Regular Session Sixty-eighth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO INTRODUCED LLS NO. 12-0617.01 Jery Payne x2157 HOUSE BILL 12-1259 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Miklosi, SENATE SPONSORSHIP (None), House Committees Senate Committees State, Veterans, & Military Affairs A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning the right of a person, including a veteran, to waive confidentiality requirements protecting personal work information obtained by the department of labor and employment for unemployment benefit claims to permit the department to forward certain information to potential employers. Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.) The bill authorizes a veteran or a person to waive confidentially requirements applicable to the person's personal information, obtained by the division of employment and training in the department of labor and employment from the veteran's or person's claim for unemployment benefits, to enable the division to forward this information about the person to potential employers. The division is directed to offer this waiver to applicants for unemployment benefits. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly determines that the Colorado government needs to do a better job of helping its approximately forty-nine thousand unemployed veterans find good employment opportunities. Approximately two hundred training organizations help veterans find employment opportunities. Connecting these organizations with unemployed veterans would help these returning veterans find good jobs. The department of labor and employment, however, is not allowed under current law to communicate the names to these training organizations because of privacy concerns. (2) The general assembly hereby declares that allowing job applicants to waive these restrictions helps get these training organizations in contact with unemployed veterans while allowing the veterans to control their privacy. Therefore, this legislation is needed to establish the waivers allowing these training organizations to contact veterans. SECTION 2. In Colorado Revised Statutes, 8-72-107, amend (1) as follows: 8-72-107. Records and reports - fee - violation - penalty. (1) (a) Each employing unit shall keep and retain for at least five years true and accurate work records containing such information as the division may prescribe Such records shall be retained for a period of not less than five years. and requires. The employing unit shall be make the records open to inspection and be subject to being copied copying by the division or its authorized representatives at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary. The division or any referee may require from any an employing unit any sworn or unsworn reports with respect to concerning persons employed by it which that it or the referee deems necessary for the effective administration of to administer articles 70 to 82 of this title. (b) Except to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of a claim, information thus obtained, or required by paragraph (a) of this subsection (1), information obtained from any an individual pursuant to the administration of under articles 70 to 82 of this title, except to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of a claim, or and withholding tax or unemployment insurance account numbers, if such the numbers are obtained from the department of revenue pursuant to section 39-21-113, C.R.S., shall be held are confidential and shall not be published or be and are not open to public inspection (other than to public employees in the performance of their public duties, to an agent of a state or local child support enforcement agency pursuant to section 8-72-109 (9), or to an agent of the division designated as such in writing for the purpose of accomplishing certain of the division's functions) in any manner revealing the individual's or employing unit's identity. Any interested party or such the party's authorized representative, in preparation for and prior to any hearing on a claim governed by articles 70 to 82 of this title, shall be is entitled to examine and, upon the payment of a reasonable fee to the division, obtain a copy of any materials contained in such the records to the extent necessary for proper presentation of the party's position at the hearing. (c) Notwithstanding said provisions paragraph (b) of this subsection (1), any an applicant for work shall be is entitled to examine and copy, or obtain a copy from the division upon payment of the costs of duplication, any letters of reference or other similar documents pertaining to the applicant that are in possession of the division Any possesses. An employee, or member of the division, or any referee who violates any provision of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than ninety days, or by both. such fine and imprisonment. (d) (I) An applicant, including a veteran, may waive the confidentiality requirement of paragraph (b) of this subsection (1) to allow the division to forward any of the following information about the applicant to potential employers: (A) Name; (B) Address; (C) Telephone number; or (D) E-mail address. (II) The division shall offer each applicant, including a veteran, the opportunity to accept the waiver for any of this information. If the applicant waives the confidentially requirement for any of the information, the department may transmit the waived information to bona fide employers seeking employees. SECTION 3. Act subject to petition - effective date. This act takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly (August 8, 2012, if adjournment sine die is on May 9, 2012); except that, if a referendum petition is filed pursuant to section 1 (3) of article V of the state constitution against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within such period, then the act, item, section, or part will not take effect unless approved by the people at the general election to be held in November 2012 and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor.