CA AB2129

Requires the Employment Development Department to develop and implement a recession plan to prepare for increased unemployment insurance claims during economic recessions.

Plan must include lessons learned from previous downturns (including COVID-19), workload monitoring indicators, staffing strategies, equipment assessments, and enhanced identity verification processes.

Plan must address call center protocols, self-serve improvements, communication infrastructure, budget constraints, and policy adjustments for significant claims increases.

Requires the department to summarize actions taken to implement recommendations from previously submitted recession plans in all future updates.

Department must provide the recession plan to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, Senate Committee on Labor, Assembly Committee on Insurance, and Department of Finance by March 1, 2022, and update it every two years thereafter.