                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DUTIES AND POWERS OF COMMISSION; REPORTING REQUIREMENTS (§ 60.2-111)

A. It shall be the duty of the Commission to administer this title. The
Commission may establish separate divisions as necessary to carry out the duties
and powers prescribed by this section. It shall have power and authority to
adopt, amend, or rescind such rules and regulations, to employ such persons,
make such expenditures, require such reports, make such investigations, and take
such other action, including the appointment of advisory groups, as it deems
necessary or suitable to that end. Such rules and regulations shall be subject
to the provisions of Chapter 40 (&#xA7; 2.2-4000 et seq.) of Title 2.2, except
as to the subject matter of subdivisions 2 and 3 of &#xA7; 60.2-515, which shall
become effective in the manner prescribed by &#xA7; 2.2-4103. The Commission
shall determine its own organization and methods of procedure in accordance with
provisions of this title, and shall have an official seal which shall be
judicially noticed. In the discharge of the duties imposed by this title, the
Commissioner shall have the authority to authorize any attorney employed by the
Commission to have the power to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of
witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and
other records deemed necessary as evidence in connection with the investigation
or adjudication of any disputed claim or the administration of this title. Any
party who disputes such subpoena may file a motion to quash any subpoena issued
pursuant to this section prior to the date production is required in a
miscellaneous action in a circuit court for which such motion shall be given
priority on the docket.

B. The Commission shall take all necessary steps to maintain a solvent trust
fund financed through equitable employer taxes that provides temporary partial
income replacement to involuntarily unemployed covered workers.

C. The Commission shall prepare an annual balance sheet of the moneys in the
fund and in the Unemployment Trust Fund to the credit of the Commonwealth in
which there shall be provided, if possible, a reserve against the liability in
future years to pay benefits in excess of the then-current taxes. That reserve
shall be set up by the Commission in accordance with accepted actuarial
principles on the basis of statistics of employment, business activity, and
other relevant factors for the longest possible period. Whenever the Commission
believes that a change in tax or benefit rates is necessary to protect the
solvency of the Fund, it shall promptly so inform the Governor and the General
Assembly and make recommendations with respect thereto.

D. In preparing the annual balance sheet required by subsection C, the
Commission shall regularly track metrics related to unemployment insurance
benefits, establish a mechanism to help assess the adequacy of benefits, and
examine metrics related to recipiency, average benefit levels, and benefit
income replacement ratios. The annual balance sheet shall include the following
calculations: (i) the average unemployment insurance benefit levels, (ii) the
average income replacement of unemployment insurance benefits, and (iii) the
recipiency rate for unemployment insurance benefits in the Commonwealth.

E. The Commission, as part of its biennial strategic plan submitted to the
Department of Planning and Budget, shall develop and maintain a comprehensive
unemployment insurance Resiliency Plan that describes specific actions the
Commission will take, depending on the level of increase in unemployment
insurance (UI) claims, to address staffing, communications, and other relevant
aspects of operations to ensure continued efficient and effective administration
of the UI program. The Resiliency Plan shall include proposed actions consistent
with the following objectives to effectively prepare for periods of high
unemployment:

   1. Develop specific strategies or steps the Commission will take to modify
   staffing levels in response to incidents that increase UI program demand.
   These strategies or steps shall (i) include a staffing plan for varying levels
   of UI workload volume, (ii) cover several scenarios that may affect UI
   assistance services, (iii) explain how existing staff would be reallocated to
   high-priority functions in response to high demand, and (iv) describe how the
   Commission&#8217;s hiring process will be streamlined to fill key vacant
   positions such as adjudication and appeals staff.

   2. Develop specific strategies or steps the Commission will take to modify
   policies, procedures, or processes in response to high demands on its
   services.

   3. Outline a strategy for clearly communicating key UI program changes to
   customers. This strategy shall indicate which staff will be responsible for
   different types of communications and include several communications goals,
   such as clearly conveying UI program and policy changes.

   4. Outline a strategy for clearly communicating important UI information to
   Commission staff, the public, and the General Assembly.

   5. Formalize a policy for prioritizing and assigning claims for adjudication
   during periods of high claims volume. This policy shall detail how
   prioritization may change in response to claims volume and state that the
   policy of the Commission is to generally prioritize resolving older claims
   before newer claims.

   6. Identify other tactical actions to be taken to ensure the continuity of UI
   claims processing and customer service.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 60-29; 1968, c. 738, § 60.1-34; 1977, c. 445; 1984, c.
734; 1986, c. 480; 2022, cc. 716, 754; 2023, cc. 102, 103, 624, 625.