Provides that requests for wage and unemployment compensation information by officers or employees of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and representatives of a public housing agency must be processed within three business days. 

Provides that work offered to an individual by a base-period or last employer at earnings equal to or greater than the individual earned from the base-period or last employer is deemed suitable work, unless certain factors are applicable (such as failure to meet prevailing conditions, risk to heath, safety, morals, etc.) and it would be contrary to good conscience to deem such work suitable.  

• has at least three years of experience in the other State(s);
• provides an authenticated account history from the other State(s) ; and
• conducts business in Arkansas of the same nature as in the other State(s), as defined by the North American Industry Classification System.

• beginning, July 1, 2001, provide that overpayments can be collected only by deduction from future benefits after ten years;
• impose interest on overpayments due to fraud; and
• beginning, July 1, 2001, assess a ten percent penalty on fraud overpayments not repaid within one year.

Changes references in provision concerning assignment of tax rates for new employers in the construction industry to reflect shift from Standard Industrial Classification codes to the North American Industry Classification System codes.

• shows reasonable cause for failure to file the payroll report on time, and
• submits accurate and reliable payroll reports.

Provides that a municipal police officer appointed by the Carroll County sheriff as a special deputy sheriff for the county shall remain an employee of the municipal corporation for unemployment insurance purposes.

Specifies that employer contributions are due and payable on a calendar quarterly basis, at the end of the month succeeding each quarter.

Raises the maximum weekly benefit amount from 60 percent to 63 percent of the State average weekly wage for claims filed on or after July 1, 2001.

For purposes of determining new employer rates, changes employer industrial classification codes from the two-digit major group in the standard industrial classification (SIC) system to the three-digit major group code in the North American industrial classification (NAIC) system. Employers who are liable for coverage before August 1, 2002, however, remain under the SIC unless they are classified (according to the SIC) within the construction industry.

Financing

Eliminates the requirement for a hearing when a predecessor files a timely written protest of a transfer of experience and provides that no such transfer will occur if the predecessor files a timely written protest.

Prohibits an employing unit=s experience record from being transferred in an amount that results in the successor and predecessor portions totaling more than one hundred percent of the predecessor=s history.

Provides that a manager of a limited liability company is included within the definition of Aemployee@ only if the company is treated as a corporation for purposes of Federal income taxation.

Provides that service performed by an owner of a general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability limited partnership, or a limited liability company, is included within the definition of Aemployment@ only if the organization is treated as a corporation for purposes of Federal income taxation.

Provides that the optional exclusion from "employment" for managers with one-fourth or greater ownership interest in a limited liability company does not apply to limited liability companies wholly owned by or operating as an Indian tribe, state or local government, or nonprofit organization for whom services performed are required by Federal law to be covered by the State's UC law.

Eliminates the provision prohibiting a negative employer, who was a negative employer the previous year, from making excess contributions to the States unemployment fund to become a positive employer.

• an employee of the Department of Workforce Services (Department) administering programs other than the UI program,
• a government employee or workers= compensation insurer to the extent the information will aid in the detection or avoidance of duplicate, inconsistent, or fraudulent claims against a workers= compensation program or the recovery of overpayments of workers= compensation funds,
• an employee or contractor of the department or an educational institution or other governmental entity engaged in workforce investment and development activities pursuant to the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 for the purpose of coordinating services with the Department, evaluating the effectiveness of those activities, and measuring performance,
• the public for any purpose following a written waiver by all interested parties of their rights to nondisclosure, and
• an individual whose wage data has been submitted to the Department by an employer, so long as no information other than the individual=s wage data and the identity of the party who submitted the information is provided to the individual

Clarifies that a fee may not be deducted from UC that is subject to child support withholding. (Resolves a pending issue.)

Clarifies that for individuals who serve in a principal administrative, research, or instructional capacity in a community or technical college, but are between terms, "reasonable assurance" of continued employment does not exist when an offer is conditioned upon enrollment, funding, or program changes.
Provides additional guidance for determining when "reasonable assurance" exists.

Specifies that individuals with tenure or tenure track status are considered to have reasonable assurance of continued employment.

Clarifies that benefits based on any and all service in an instructional, research, or principal administrative capacity for any and all educational institutions shall not be paid to an individual for any week of unemployment which commences during the period between two successive academic years or terms if the individual has reasonable assurance of continued employment.