Unemployment Insurance Technology Modernization Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 490 To modernize the technology for delivering unemployment compensation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 1, 2021 Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. BROWN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. KAINE, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BENNET, and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To modernize the technology for delivering unemployment compensation, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unemployment Insur- 4 ance Technology Modernization Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR DELIV- 6 ERING UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 490 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 1 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 2 shall develop, operate, and maintain a modular set 3 of technology capabilities to modernize the delivery 4 of unemployment compensation (in this section re- 5 ferred to as the ‘‘technology capabilities’’). 6 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of developing 7 the technology capabilities are the following: 8 (A) For such capabilities to be utilized for 9 any Federal administrative function associated 10 with the provision of unemployment compensa- 11 tion. 12 (B) To provide States with modular, open 13 system technology capabilities and shared serv- 14 ices to administer their unemployment com- 15 pensation programs. 16 (3) CONSULTATION.—In developing, operating, 17 and maintaining the technology capabilities under 18 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 19 (A) coordinate with the Administrator; and 20 (B) consult, design, and conduct usability 21 testing with— 22 (i) current and former claimants; 23 (ii) employers that participate in un- 24 employment compensation programs; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 490 IS (iii) employees of State workforce 1 agencies; 2 (iv) experts in technology and user ex- 3 perience; 4 (v) Federal administrators of unem- 5 ployment compensation; 6 (vi) any other potential user of the 7 technology capabilities; and 8 (vii) subject matter experts as deemed 9 appropriate by the Secretary. 10 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The technology capabilities 12 shall— 13 (A) incorporate a modular open systems 14 approach and include modular components for 15 each function necessary to administer an unem- 16 ployment compensation program, including— 17 (i) receiving, processing, and paying 18 claims for unemployment compensation, in- 19 cluding disaster benefits; 20 (ii) online claim filing; 21 (iii) the determination of claimant eli- 22 gibility; 23 (iv) the collection of unemployment 24 taxes; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 490 IS (v) the submission of employer wage 1 records; 2 (vi) the appeals and adjudication 3 processes for claimants and employers; 4 (vii) sharing relevant data among 5 States and the Secretary; and 6 (viii) any other functionality that ad- 7 dresses the issues and goals identified dur- 8 ing the pre-development study described in 9 subsection (c)(1); 10 (B) comply with best practices and stand- 11 ards for privacy and cybersecurity, including 12 digital identity proofing services, identified in 13 consultation with the Director of the National 14 Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 15 and the Director of the Cybersecurity and In- 16 frastructure Security Agency (CISA); 17 (C) prioritize end-to-end user experience 18 for claimants, employers, and administrators of 19 unemployment compensation programs; 20 (D) include centralized Federal technology 21 capabilities that allow for the storage, exposure, 22 and exchange of data required by States to ad- 23 minister their unemployment compensation pro- 24 grams (with the respective States retaining pos- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 490 IS session of such data without regard to the stor- 1 age, exposure, or exchange of such data in the 2 Federal technology capabilities); 3 (E) provide States with the option to use 4 only some of the modular components of the 5 Federal technology capabilities while continuing 6 to utilize State technology capabilities to store 7 any data required to administer their unemploy- 8 ment compensation program in a State data- 9 base, provided that the State database meets 10 any guidelines established by the Secretary that 11 enable machine-to-machine interfaces to facili- 12 tate communication among States and between 13 such State and the Federal Government; 14 (F) allow States to easily adapt the mod- 15 ular components of the Federal technology ca- 16 pabilities to meet the requirements of their 17 unique unemployment compensation programs; 18 (G) ensure the timely and accurate pay- 19 ment of benefits, including measures to mini- 20 mize susceptibility to attacks by organized 21 criminal networks seeking to defraud State or 22 Federal unemployment compensation programs; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 490 IS (H) to the extent practicable, be made 1 available (along with any associated data pro- 2 duced under this section) to support other 3 interagency and intergovernmental activities as 4 appropriate. 5 (2) ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ON- 6 LINE CLAIM FILING.—With respect to the online 7 claim filing component described in paragraph 8 (1)(A)(ii), such component shall— 9 (A) ensure that the process of filing initial 10 and continuing claims for unemployment com- 11 pensation can be readily understood and accom- 12 plished by the vast majority of claimants, in- 13 cluding individuals with limited English pro- 14 ficiency, individuals with disabilities (in compli- 15 ance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 16 of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d)), older individuals, 17 and individuals with literacy challenges; 18 (B) be available in any language spoken by 19 more than 1 percent of the national population 20 or any State’s population (with such trans- 21 lations completed by human translators rather 22 than translation software) and comply with the 23 requirements of the Plain Writing Act of 2010 24 (5 U.S.C. 301 note); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 490 IS (C) be accessible and optimized for all 1 commonly used desktop computers, tablets, and 2 mobile devices and operating systems such that 3 any features of the online claim filing compo- 4 nent (such as the ability to upload documenta- 5 tion) that are available in the desktop version 6 of the online claim filing component are also 7 available in the tablet and mobile versions; 8 (D) allow for electronic submission of doc- 9 umentation required to support a claim, includ- 10 ing the ability of claimants to scan or photo- 11 graph and submit documentation using a tablet 12 or mobile device; 13 (E) be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a 14 week, with the exception of scheduled and emer- 15 gency maintenance that the State conducts, to 16 the extent practicable, at nonpeak hours; 17 (F) provide self-service account recovery 18 that can be completed online; and 19 (G) deploy multiple methods of commu- 20 nication with claimants, such as short message 21 service (SMS) message, email, postal mail, live 22 chat, or chatbots. 23 (3) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING HIGH-RISK 24 AUTOMATED DECISION SYSTEMS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 490 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The technology capa- 1 bilities shall not rely solely on a high-risk auto- 2 mated decision system to deny a claim for un- 3 employment compensation, reduce the amount 4 of unemployment compensation for which a 5 claimant is eligible, or deny the right of a 6 claimant to appeal an unemployment compensa- 7 tion decision. 8 (B) PARTIAL RELIANCE.— 9 (i) IN GENERAL.—If any of the tech- 10 nology capabilities rely on a high-risk auto- 11 mated decision system to determine that a 12 claimant is ineligible for unemployment 13 compensation, to reduce the amount of un- 14 employment compensation for which a 15 claimant is eligible, or to deny the right of 16 a claimant to appeal an unemployment 17 compensation decision, the Secretary 18 shall— 19 (I) require that an employee of a 20 State workforce agency review the de- 21 termination before— 22 (aa) the claim for unemploy- 23 ment compensation of such 24 claimant may be denied; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 490 IS (bb) the amount of unem- 1 ployment compensation for which 2 such claimant is eligible may be 3 reduced; or 4 (cc) the right of such claim- 5 ant to appeal an unemployment 6 compensation decision may be de- 7 nied; 8 (II) consult with experts in the 9 Federal Government (including the 10 Director of the National Institute of 11 Standards and Technology and the 12 Director of the National Science 13 Foundation), regarding the potential 14 benefits and risks of partial reliance 15 on a high-risk automated decision sys- 16 tem; 17 (III) prior to utilizing such part 18 of the technology capabilities that re- 19 lies on a high-risk automated decision 20 system— 21 (aa) establish clear methods 22 to measure the accuracy of such 23 part of the technology capabili- 24 ties; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 490 IS (bb) ensure that such part 1 of the technology capabilities 2 minimizes the occurrence of bi- 3 ased results based on race, gen- 4 der, ethnicity, disability status, 5 income, occupation, or other per- 6 sonal characteristics as deter- 7 mined by the Secretary, and pre- 8 vents any increase in such bias; 9 (IV) develop algorithmic impact 10 assessments, incorporating public 11 feedback and expert agency review, to 12 proactively assess the necessity of ad- 13 ditional formal policies and safeguards 14 to mitigate risks; and 15 (V) establish transparency re- 16 quirements that include an annual 17 public disclosure of any use of a high- 18 risk automated decision system, a 19 plain language explanation of the de- 20 cision making structure of such high- 21 risk automated decision system, and 22 the details regarding such use and re- 23 lated outcomes. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 490 IS (ii) TRAINING.—The Secretary shall 1 establish best practices for training any 2 relevant employee of the Department or a 3 State workforce agency to reduce the im- 4 pact of automation bias. 5 (C) MONITORING.—The Secretary shall 6 continuously monitor claim determinations that 7 rely, in part, on the use of a high-risk auto- 8 mated decision system to ensure that biased re- 9 sults based on the characteristics described in 10 subparagraph (B)(i)(III)(bb) do not occur. 11 (c) PRE-DEVELOPMENT STUDY AND REPORT.— 12 (1) STUDY.—Prior to the development of the 13 technology capabilities under subsection (a) or the 14 procurement of such technology capabilities under 15 subsection (g), the Secretary, in coordination with 16 the Administrator, shall conduct a study assessing 17 the technology needs of Federal and State unem- 18 ployment compensation programs. Such study shall 19 consider the following: 20 (A) The Federal and State capabilities 21 that need to be upgraded or replaced to ensure 22 the smooth administration of their respective 23 unemployment compensation programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 490 IS (B) How to design and develop a federally 1 maintained system that serves the needs of both 2 the Federal Government and each of the State 3 unemployment compensation programs. 4 (C) The features necessary to effectively 5 respond to rapid changes in volume in times of 6 emergency, including features that enable easy 7 adaptation of, and updates to, such technology 8 capabilities in order to implement new rules or 9 benefits. 10 (D) The features necessary to ensure the 11 technology capabilities have the capacity to han- 12 dle an increased number of claims during peri- 13 ods of high unemployment. 14 (E) How the technology capabilities can 15 prioritize claimant experience and ensure acces- 16 sibility, including by soliciting feedback from 17 claimants and claimant representatives during 18 the development process. 19 (F) How the technology capabilities can 20 ensure effective and equitable benefit delivery, 21 including the following: 22 (i) The standardization of data collec- 23 tion and reporting across States to facili- 24 tate administration and interoperability. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S490.IS S490 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 490 IS (ii) The features that will facilitate ac- 1 curate and timely delivery of benefits and 2 reduce the time from successful unemploy- 3 ment compensation claim to benefit deliv- 4 ery. 5 (iii) The features that will help to 6 identify and prevent organized fraud 7 schemes without causing unreasonable 8 delays for legitimate claimants or penal- 9 izing mistakes. 10 (iv) The appropriate level of ongoing 11 audit and analysis needed to evaluate the 12 effectiveness and equitability of benefit de- 13 livery. 14 (v) How privacy-protective data expo- 15 sure and exchange between government en- 16 tities and privacy-protective public report- 17 ing could be utilized to improve and ensure 18 effect [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]