48-619. Unemployment Trust Fund; withdrawals.

(1) Money shall be requisitioned from this state's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund solely for the payment of benefits in accordance with lawful rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the Commissioner of Labor, except that money credited to this fund pursuant to section 903 of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, may be appropriated by the Legislature in accordance with section 903 of the federal Social Security Act for the administration of the Employment Security Law. For such purposes and to the extent required, credits to the account pursuant to section 903 of the federal Social Security Act may be transferred to the Employment Security Administration Fund established in subdivision (1)(a) of section 48-621. The commissioner shall from time to time requisition from the Unemployment Trust Fund such amounts as he or she deems necessary for the payment of benefits for a reasonable future period, not to exceed the amounts standing to this state's account therein. Upon receipt thereof, the treasurer shall deposit such money in the benefit account and shall issue his or her warrants as provided by law for the payment of benefits solely from such benefit account. Expenditures of such money in the benefit account and refunds from the clearing account shall not be subject to any provisions of law requiring specific appropriations.

(2) Any balance of money requisitioned from the Unemployment Trust Fund, which remains unclaimed or unpaid in the benefit account after the expiration of the period for which such sums were requisitioned, shall, at the discretion of the commissioner, either be:

(a) Deducted from estimates for, and may be utilized for the payment of, benefits during succeeding periods; or

(b) Redeposited with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America, to the credit of this state's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund, as provided in section 48-618.

(3) Any warrant issued for the payment of benefits that is duly issued and delivered or mailed to a claimant and not presented for payment within one year from the date of its issue may be invalidated and the amount thereof credited to the benefit account, except that a substitute warrant may be issued and charged to the benefit account on proper showing at any time within the year next following. A claim for payment of an invalidated warrant not made within one year of original issuance may be presented for payment as a miscellaneous claim under the State Miscellaneous Claims Act. Any charge made to an employer's account pursuant to section 48-652 for any such invalidated benefit warrant shall stand as originally made.

(4) As used in this section, the term warrant shall include a signature negotiable instrument, electronic funds transfer system, telephonic funds transfer system, electric funds transfer system, funds transfers as provided for in article 4A, Uniform Commercial Code, mechanical funds transfer system, or other funds transfer system established by the treasurer. The warrant, when it is a dual signature negotiable instrument, shall affect the state's cash balance in the bank when redeemed by the treasurer, not when cashed by a financial institution.

Source:Laws 1937, c. 108, § 9, p. 388; Laws 1939, c. 56, § 7, p. 244; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-709; R.S.1943, § 48-619; Laws 1957, c. 208, § 2, p. 728; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 16; Laws 1995, LB 1, § 4; Laws 2000, LB 953, § 5; Laws 2005, LB 484, § 4; Laws 2017, LB172, § 18; Laws 2019, LB359, § 2.

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