House committee substitute makes the following changes to the 1st edition.

Changes the act's long title.

Changes the effective date of the proposed changes to GS 96-15(b)(2) to October 1, 2017 (was, July 1, 2017), concerning the reduction in the required time period for which any interested employer must be allowed to file its protest of an unemployment insurance claim in order to have the claim referred to an adjudicator from 14 days to 10 days from the mailing or delivery of the notice of the filing of the claim against the employer’s account.

Amends GS 96-9.6 by adding a new subsection to provide that a reimbursing employer can apply to the Division of Unemployment Insurance Fund (Division) for a refund of any amount the reimbursing employer erroneously remitted to the Unemployment Insurance Fund in excess of the amount due. Requires the application for a refund be filed by the later of (1) five years from the last calendar year with respect to which a payment was made or (2) one year from the date on which a payment in excess was made. Directs the Division to determine that the requested refund was in excess of the amount due and the payment in excess was erroneously paid. Directs the Division to refund the excess amount without interest. Prohibits the refund from resulting in an account balance of less than 1% of the reimbursing employer's taxable wages. Makes conforming changes.

The previous edition made proposed changes to subsection (c) of GS 96-11.7 to provide that an employer who transfers all or part of its business to another person and, at the time of the transfer, there is substantially common ownership, management, or control of the predecessor employer and the transferee, then it is mandatory that the portion of the account attributable to the transferred business be transferred to the transferee as of the date of the transfer. This edition clarifies that the mandatory transfer of that portion of the account attributable to the transferred business is transferred to the transferee as of the date of the transfer for use in the determination of the transferee's contribution rate. Further clarifies that substantially common ownership, management, or control exists if one or more persons, entities, or other organizations owning, managing, or controlling the business maintain substantial ownership, management, or control of the transferee (was, remain in substantial ownership, management, or control of the transferee). 

Amends proposed new subsection (c1) of GS 96-11.7 to bar the Division of Employment Security from transferring the account of the predecessor employer if the Division finds that a person formed or acquired (was, that a person acquired) the business solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower contribution rate.

Makes clarifying changes to the proposed changes to subsection (d) of GS 96-11.7, concerning the recalculation of the employer contribution rate when the effective date of an account transfer is after the computation date in a calendar year, to refer to the transferring employer as the predecessor employer, and refer to the transferee as the successor employer. 

Amends proposed new subsection (g) of GS 96-11.7 to provide that any transferee subject to a complete transfer under this statute (previously, any transferee with substantially common ownership, management, or control of an existing business) cannot request or maintain an account with the Division of Employment Security other than the account of the existing business. Makes conforming changes.