House codifies employer reporting portal and raises weekly work‑search requirement to five

BATON ROUGE — Lawmakers voted to codify a portal used by employers to report job applicants who miss interviews and to raise the number of required weekly work‑search actions for unemployment claimants from three to five.

Representative Hebert, who brought the bill to the floor, said the portal had been operating administratively for a year and the bill "would codify that and put that into statute." Hebert said the change also requires claimants to perform five work‑search actions per week and directs the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) to establish acceptable work‑search activities by rule and regulation.

Discussion focused on how the portal operates and whether the proposed changes would unfairly penalize jobseekers. Lawmakers asked whether the portal recorded reasons for missed interviews, how many submissions it had received, and whether rural claimants would be disadvantaged. Hebert said the department reported about 3,500 name submissions to the portal over the prior year and that only roughly 31 of those, after investigation, resulted in an eligibility loss tied to misrepresentation — figures he used to argue the system was not being used to indiscriminately cut benefits.

Members debated the practical effect of increasing required work‑search actions and whether some claimants would resort to low‑paying jobs outside their skill sets just to meet the rule. The bill was amended on the floor to restore statutory language requiring participation in an "approved training program when so directed by the administrator," language Hebert said clarifies how training counts toward work search. The bill passed final passage on a recorded vote, 73 yeas and 24 nays.