National Signing Bonus Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1557 To support both workers and recovery by converting expanded Federal unemployment payments into signing bonuses. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 11, 2021 Mr. SASSE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To support both workers and recovery by converting ex- panded Federal unemployment payments into signing bo- nuses. 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 ‘‘National Signing 4 Bonus Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SIGNING BONUSES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(b) of the CARES 7 Act (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 00:34 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1557.IS S1557 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1557 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 up to 2 lump- 6 sum payments (in this paragraph referred to as 7 the ‘first lump-sum payment’ and the ‘second 8 lump-sum payment’) to each individual who— 9 ‘‘(i) was eligible for Federal Pandemic 10 Unemployment Compensation under para- 11 graph (1) for— 12 ‘‘(I) any week beginning after the 13 date of enactment of the National 14 Signing Bonus Act of 2021; and 15 ‘‘(II) at least the 8 weeks imme- 16 diately preceding the week under sub- 17 clause (I); 18 ‘‘(ii) is no longer eligible for Federal 19 Pandemic Unemployment Compensation 20 under paragraph (1) (as determined by the 21 State), as a result of earnings due to com- 22 mencing employment with an employer by 23 whom the individual has not been em- 24 ployed during the preceding 6 months; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1557.IS S1557 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1557 IS ‘‘(iii) as verified by the individual’s 1 employer pursuant to subparagraph (E)— 2 ‘‘(I) has been employed by a non- 3 governmental employer throughout— 4 ‘‘(aa) in the case of the first 5 lump-sum payment, the individ- 6 ual’s first qualifying period; and 7 ‘‘(bb) in the case of the sec- 8 ond lump-sum payment, the indi- 9 vidual’s second qualifying period; 10 and 11 ‘‘(II) remains employed with an 12 intent to continue such employment. 13 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.— 14 ‘‘(i) FIRST LUMP-SUM PAYMENT.— 15 With respect to the first qualifying period, 16 a payment made to an individual under 17 this paragraph shall be paid in a lump sum 18 amount of $1,212. 19 ‘‘(ii) SECOND LUMP-SUM PAYMENT.— 20 With respect to the second qualifying pe- 21 riod, a payment made to an individual 22 under this paragraph shall be paid in a 23 lump sum amount of $1,212. 24 ‘‘(C) QUALIFYING PERIODS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1557.IS S1557 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1557 IS ‘‘(i) FIRST QUALIFYING PERIOD.—For 1 purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘first 2 qualifying period’ means, with respect to 3 an individual, a period— 4 ‘‘(I) beginning on the date the in- 5 dividual commenced employment as 6 described in subparagraph (A)(ii); and 7 ‘‘(II) extending at least 4 con- 8 secutive weeks from such date. 9 ‘‘(ii) SECOND QUALIFYING PERIOD.— 10 For purposes of this paragraph, the term 11 ‘second qualifying period’ means, with re- 12 spect to an individual, a period— 13 ‘‘(I) beginning on the date the in- 14 dividual commenced employment as 15 described in subparagraph (A)(ii) 16 (with the same employer with whom 17 the individual qualified for the first 18 lump-sum payment under this para- 19 graph); and 20 ‘‘(II) extending at least 8 con- 21 secutive weeks from such date. 22 ‘‘(D) DURATION.—A first or second lump- 23 sum payment may not be made to any indi- 24 vidual under this paragraph with respect to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1557.IS S1557 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1557 IS first or second qualifying period beginning on 1 or after July 4, 2021. 2 ‘‘(E) EMPLOYER VERIFICATION REQUIRED 3 FOR BOTH LUMP-SUM PAYMENTS.—Before 4 making the first and second lump-sum payment 5 to an individual pursuant to this paragraph, a 6 State agency shall require verification from the 7 individual’s employer— 8 ‘‘(i) of the individual’s employment 9 status; 10 ‘‘(ii) of the wages paid to the indi- 11 vidual during the applicable qualifying pe- 12 riod; and 13 ‘‘(iii) of the hours worked by the indi- 14 vidual during the applicable qualifying pe- 15 riod. 16 ‘‘(F) LIMITATION.—A State may not pro- 17 vide more than one first lump-sum payment 18 and one second lump-sum payment under this 19 paragraph to an individual. 20 ‘‘(G) SPECIAL RULE.—Payments made 21 pursuant to an agreement under this paragraph 22 shall not be considered to violate the withdrawal 23 requirements of section 303(a)(5) of the Social 24 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 503(a)(5)) or section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1557.IS S1557 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1557 IS 3304(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1 1986.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 2104 of 3 the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9023) is amended— 4 (1) in subsections (d) and (f), by inserting ‘‘, 5 payments under subsection (b)(4),’’ after ‘‘Federal 6 Pandemic Unemployment Compensation’’ each place 7 it appears; and 8 (2) in subsection (g)— 9 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 10 the end; 11 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 12 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(3) the purposes of the preceding provisions of 15 this section, as such provisions apply with respect to 16 payments under subsection (b)(4), shall be applied 17 with respect to unemployment benefits described in 18 subsection (i)(2) to the same extent and in the same 19 manner as if those benefits were regular compensa- 20 tion.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1557.IS S1557 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS