2023 California Code › Unemployment Insurance Code - UIC › DIVISION 1 - UNEMPLOYMENT AND DISABILITY COMPENSATION › PART 2 - DISABILITY COMPENSATION › CHAPTER 2 - Disability Benefits › ARTICLE 4 - Filing, Determination and Payment of Disability Benefit Claims › Section 2701.

2701. (a) Disability benefits shall be paid by the department through public employment offices or other agencies approved by the director.
(b) Beginning January 1, 2024, the department shall provide a person entitled to receive disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 3300) the option to receive payments by direct deposit, as regulated under the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1693 et seq.), into a qualifying account, as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (e), of the recipient’s choice, in addition to other alternative disbursement payment methods, including, but not limited to, debit cards and checks.
(c) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, if disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits are directly deposited to an account of the recipient’s choice, as authorized under the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1693 et seq.), the payments shall only be deposited to an account that meets the requirements of a qualifying account, as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (e).
(2) A person or entity that is not an insured depository financial institution that offers, maintains, or manages an account that does not comply with paragraph (3) of subdivision (e) shall not solicit, accept, or facilitate the direct deposit of disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits to the account.
(d) For purposes of this section, the department shall not be held liable for authorizing a direct deposit of disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits into an account designated by the recipient that does not comply with paragraph (3) of subdivision (e). The department has no obligation to determine whether an account at the insured depository financial institution of the recipient’s choice is a qualifying account, as described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (e).
(e) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Insured depository financial institution” means a state or national bank, a state or federal savings and loan association, a mutual savings bank, or a state or federal credit union that holds deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Administration.
(2) “Prepaid account” has the same meaning as that term is defined in regulations under the EFTA.
(3) “Qualifying account” is one of the following:
(A) A demand deposit or savings account at an insured depository financial institution that is offered directly by the insured depository financial institution on its internet website or through its branches and that is in the name of the person entitled to the receipt of disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits.
(B) A prepaid account, or a demand deposit or savings account offered by, or through, an entity other than an insured depository financial institution, that meets all of the following:
(i) The account is held at an insured depository financial institution.
(ii) The account is set up to meet the requirements for direct or passthrough deposit or share insurance payable to the person entitled to the receipt of disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in accordance with Part 330 of Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund in accordance with Part 745 of Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(iii) The account is not attached to a credit or overdraft feature that is automatically repaid from the account unless the credit or overdraft feature has no fee, charge, or cost, whether direct, required, voluntary, or involuntary, or the credit or overdraft feature complies with the requirements for credit offered in connection with a prepaid account under the federal Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1601 et seq.) and its implementing regulations.
(iv) The account complies with all of the requirements, and provides the holder of the account with all of the consumer protections, that apply to an account under the rules implementing the EFTA.
(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 546, Sec. 3. (SB 497) Effective January 1, 2022.)