Back to Work Bonus Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1389 To provide relief to workers impacted by COVID–19 and support for reopening businesses, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 27, 2021 Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. TUBERVILLE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide relief to workers impacted by COVID–19 and support for reopening businesses, 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 ‘‘Back to Work Bonus 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TIME-LIMITED BACK-TO-WORK BONUSES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(b) of the Cares Act 7 (15 U.S.C. 9023(b)) is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para- 9 graph (5); and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1389 IS (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(4) BACK-TO-WORK BONUSES.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under 4 this section may also provide that the State 5 agency of the State may make a one-time lump 6 sum payment to each individual who— 7 ‘‘(i) was eligible for Federal Pandemic 8 Unemployment Compensation under para- 9 graph (1) for any week beginning after the 10 date of enactment of the Back to Work 11 Bonus Act; 12 ‘‘(ii) is no longer so eligible (as deter- 13 mined by the State), as a result of earn- 14 ings due to commencing employment; and 15 ‘‘(iii) as verified by the individual’s 16 employer pursuant to subparagraph (E)— 17 ‘‘(I) has been employed by a non- 18 governmental employer throughout 19 the individual’s qualifying period; 20 ‘‘(II) is employed for wages 21 equivalent to an annual salary of not 22 more than $75,000; and 23 ‘‘(III) remains employed with an 24 intent to continue such employment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1389 IS ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.—A payment made to an 1 individual under this paragraph shall be paid in 2 a lump sum amount of— 3 ‘‘(i) $1,200 in the case of an indi- 4 vidual who on average is working at least 5 30 hours or more per week during the 6 qualifying period; or 7 ‘‘(ii) $600 in the case of an individual 8 who on average is working at least 20 9 hours or more per week, but less than 30 10 hours, during the qualifying period. 11 ‘‘(C) QUALIFYING PERIOD.—For purposes 12 of this paragraph, the term ‘qualifying period’ 13 means, with respect to an individual, a period— 14 ‘‘(i) beginning on the date the indi- 15 vidual commenced employment as de- 16 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii); and 17 ‘‘(ii) extending at least 4 consecutive 18 weeks from such date. 19 ‘‘(D) DURATION.—No lump sum payment 20 may be made to any individual under this para- 21 graph with respect to a qualifying period begin- 22 ning on or after July 1, 2021. 23 ‘‘(E) EMPLOYER VERIFICATION.—Before 24 making a lump sum payment to an individual 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1389 IS pursuant to this paragraph, a State agency 1 shall require verification from the individual’s 2 employer— 3 ‘‘(i) of the individual’s employment 4 status; 5 ‘‘(ii) of the wages paid to the indi- 6 vidual during the qualifying period; and 7 ‘‘(iii) of the hours worked by the indi- 8 vidual during the qualifying period. 9 ‘‘(F) LIMITATION.—A State may not pro- 10 vide more than one payment under this para- 11 graph to an individual. 12 ‘‘(G) SPECIAL RULE.—Payments made 13 pursuant to an agreement under this paragraph 14 shall not be considered to violate the withdrawal 15 requirements of section 303(a)(5) of the Social 16 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 503(a)(5)) or section 17 3304(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 18 1986.’’. 19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 2104 of 20 such Act is amended— 21 (1) in subsections (d) and (f), by inserting ‘‘, 22 payments under subsection (b)(4),’’ after ‘‘Federal 23 Pandemic Unemployment Compensation’’ each place 24 it appears; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1389 IS (2) in subsection (g)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 2 the end; 3 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 4 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(3) the purposes of the preceding provisions of 7 this section, as such provisions apply with respect to 8 payments under subsection (b)(4), shall be applied 9 with respect to unemployment benefits described in 10 subsection (i)(2) to the same extent and in the same 11 manner as if those benefits were regular compensa- 12 tion.’’. 13 SEC. 3. ACCELERATED FUNDING INCREASE FOR REEM- 14 PLOYMENT SERVICES AND ELIGIBILITY AS- 15 SESSMENTS. 16 Section 314(g)(1)(D) of the Congressional Budget 17 Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 645(g)(1)(D)) is amended by— 18 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘$133,000,000’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘$433,000,000’’; and 20 (2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘$258,000,000’’ 21 and inserting ‘‘$433,000,000’’. 22 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES. 23 (a) CARES ACT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1389 IS (1) PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE.— 1 Section 2102 of the Cares Act (15 U.S.C. 9021) is 2 amended by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(i) ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES.— 4 Pandemic unemployment assistance under this section 5 shall be treated as unemployment compensation for the 6 purposes of section 306 of the Social Security Act (42 7 U.S.C. 506).’’. 8 (2) PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT 9 COMPENSATION.—Section 2107 of the Cares Act (15 10 U.S.C. 9025) is amended by adding at the end the 11 following: 12 ‘‘(h) ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES.— 13 Pandemic emergency unemployment compensation under 14 this section shall be treated as unemployment compensa- 15 tion for the purposes of section 306 of the Social Security 16 Act (42 U.S.C. 506).’’. 17 (b) SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Section 306(a) of the 18 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 506(a)) is amended— 19 (1) by striking ‘‘individuals referred to reem- 20 ployment services as described in section 303(j)’’ 21 and inserting ‘‘claimants for unemployment com- 22 pensation, including claimants referred to reemploy- 23 ment services as described in section 303(j),’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1389 IS (2) by striking ‘‘such individuals’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘such claimants’’. 2 SEC. 5. REINSTATING FEDERAL WORK SEARCH REQUIRE- 3 MENT. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4102(b) of the Families 5 First Coronavirus Relief Act (26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is 6 amended by striking ‘‘work search,’’ after ‘‘with respect 7 to’’. 8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made under 9 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 30 days 10 after the date of enactment of this Act. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1389.IS S1389 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS