Enhances penalty for misclassification of employees for purposes of evading taxes or unemployment insurance contributions.

Under current law, any person who knowingly and intentionally misclassifies an employee as an independent contractor for the sole or primary purpose of avoiding either state income tax withholding and reporting requirements or state unemployment insurance contribution reporting requirements is subject to a civil penalty for a first violation. For a second violation, a person is subject to a civil penalty and can be prosecuted for a class C nonperson misdemeanor. Upon a third violation, a person is subject to a civil penalty and can be prosecuted for a class A nonperson misdemeanor. This bill amends these classifications to make the second and any subsequent violation a severity level ten, nonperson felony.

Carries-over to 2018.

02/01/2017 Introduced.
02/02/2017 Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce.