Paid Family Leave Pilot Extension Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4964 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the employer credit for paid family and medical leave, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 31, 2019 Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the employer credit for paid family and medical leave, 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 ‘‘Paid Family Leave 4 Pilot Extension Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4964.IH H4964 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4964 IH SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF EMPLOYER CREDIT FOR PAID FAM- 1 ILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE. 2 (a) PROGRAM EXTENSION.—Section 45S(i) of the In- 3 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘De- 4 cember 31, 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2022’’. 5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 6 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 7 December 31, 2019. 8 SEC. 3. EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS FOR RATE OF PAY- 9 MENT. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 45S of 11 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 12 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting after the 13 first sentence the following: ‘‘For purposes of deter- 14 mining the rate of payment under the program, any 15 family and medical leave which is paid by a State or 16 local government or required by State or local law, 17 determined as a percentage of the wages normally 18 paid to such employee for services performed for the 19 employer, shall be taken into account.’’, and 20 (2) in paragraph (4)— 21 (A) by striking ‘‘For purposes of this sec- 22 tion, any’’ and inserting ‘‘Any’’, and 23 (B) by striking ‘‘amount of paid family 24 and medical leave provided by the employer’’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4964.IH H4964 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4964 IH and inserting ‘‘wages taken into account under 1 subsection (a)’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall take effect as if included in section 4 13403 of Public Law 115–97. 5 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 45S of the Internal Rev- 7 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘credit al- 9 lowed’’ and inserting ‘‘wages taken into account’’, 10 (2) in subsection (c), by striking paragraph (3) 11 and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘(3) AGGREGATION RULE.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 14 subparagraph (B), all persons which are treated 15 as a single employer under subsections (b) and 16 (c) of section 414 shall be treated as a single 17 employer. 18 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.— 19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) 20 shall not apply to any person who estab- 21 lishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary 22 that such person has a substantial and le- 23 gitimate business reason for failing to pro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4964.IH H4964 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4964 IH vide a written policy described in para- 1 graph (1) or (2). 2 ‘‘(ii) SUBSTANTIAL AND LEGITIMATE 3 BUSINESS REASON.—For purposes of 4 clause (i), the term ‘substantial and legiti- 5 mate business reason’ shall not include the 6 operation of a separate line of business, 7 the rate of wages or category of jobs for 8 employees (or any similar basis), or the ap- 9 plication of State or local laws relating to 10 family and medical leave, but may include 11 the grouping of employees of a common 12 law employer.’’, and 13 (3) in subsection (d)(2), by inserting ‘‘, as de- 14 termined on an annualized basis (pro-rata for part- 15 time employees),’’ after ‘‘compensation’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 17 this section shall take effect as if included in section 18 13403 of Public Law 115–97. 19 SEC. 5. GAO STUDY OF IMPACT OF TAX CREDIT TO PRO- 20 MOTE ACCESS TO PAID FAMILY AND MED- 21 ICAL LEAVE. 22 (a) STUDY.—Not later than June 30, 2022, the 23 Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4964.IH H4964 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4964 IH with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of 1 Labor, shall— 2 (1) complete a study that— 3 (A) examines the effectiveness of the tax 4 credit for paid family and medical leave author- 5 ized under section 45S of the Internal Revenue 6 Code of 1986 in terms of— 7 (i) increasing access to paid family 8 and medical leave among qualifying em- 9 ployees; 10 (ii) promoting the creation of new 11 paid family and medical leave policies 12 among eligible employers; 13 (iii) increasing the generosity of exist- 14 ing paid family and medical leave policies 15 among eligible employers; and 16 (iv) incenting employee or employer 17 behavior that might not otherwise have oc- 18 curred in the absence of the credit; 19 (B) provides recommendations for ways to 20 modify or enhance the tax credit to further pro- 21 mote access to paid family and medical leave 22 for qualifying employees; and 23 (C) provides suggestions of alternative 24 policies that Federal and State governments 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4964.IH H4964 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4964 IH could implement to increase access to paid fam- 1 ily and medical leave, particularly among quali- 2 fying employees; and 3 (2) prepare and submit a report to the Com- 4 mittee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee 5 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives 6 setting forth the conclusions of the study conducted 7 under paragraph (1) in such a manner that the rec- 8 ommendations included in the report can inform fu- 9 ture legislative action. 10 Such report shall also be made publicly available via the 11 website of the Government Accountability Office. 12 (b) PROHIBITION.—In carrying out the requirements 13 of this section, the Comptroller General of the United 14 States may request qualitative and quantitative informa- 15 tion from employers and employees claiming the credit 16 under section 45S of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 17 but nothing in this section shall be construed as man- 18 dating additional reporting requirements for such employ- 19 ers or employees beyond what is already required by law. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4964.IH H4964 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS