Emergency Unemployment Insurance Stabilization and Access Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6199 To provide for emergency transfers for unemployment compensation administration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 11, 2020 Mr. HORSFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide for emergency transfers for unemployment compensation administration, 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 ‘‘Emergency Unemploy- 4 ment Insurance Stabilization and Access Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY TRANSFERS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT 6 COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATION. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 903 of the Social Security 8 Act (42 U.S.C. 1103) is amended by adding at the end 9 the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6199 IH ‘‘Emergency Transfers in Fiscal Year 2020 for 1 Administration 2 ‘‘(h)(1)(A) In addition to any other amounts, the Sec- 3 retary of Labor shall provide for the making of emergency 4 administration grants in fiscal year 2020 to the accounts 5 of the States in the Unemployment Trust Fund, by trans- 6 fer from amounts reserved for that purpose in the Federal 7 unemployment account, in accordance with succeeding 8 provisions of this subsection. 9 ‘‘(B) The amount of an emergency administration 10 grant with respect to a State shall, as determined by the 11 Secretary of Labor, be equal to the amount obtained by 12 multiplying $1,000,000,000 by the same ratio as would 13 apply under subsection (a)(2)(B) for purposes of deter- 14 mining such State’s share of any excess amount (as de- 15 scribed in subsection (a)(1)) that would have been subject 16 to transfer to State accounts, as of October 1, 2019, under 17 the provisions of subsection (a). 18 ‘‘(C) Of the emergency administration grant deter- 19 mined under subparagraph (B) with respect to a State— 20 ‘‘(i) not later than 30 days after the date of en- 21 actment of this subsection, 50 percent shall be 22 transferred to the account of such State upon a cer- 23 tification by the Secretary of Labor to the Secretary 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6199 IH of the Treasury that the State meets the require- 1 ments of paragraph (2); and 2 ‘‘(ii) only with respect to a State in which the 3 number of unemployment compensation claims has 4 increased by at least 10 percent over the previous 5 calendar year, the remainder shall be transferred to 6 the account of such State upon a certification by the 7 Secretary of Labor to the Secretary of the Treasury 8 that the State meets the requirements of paragraph 9 (3). 10 ‘‘(2) The requirements of this paragraph with respect 11 to a State are the following: 12 ‘‘(A) The State requires employers to provide 13 notification of the availability of unemployment com- 14 pensation to employees at the time of separation 15 from employment. Such notification may be based 16 on model language issued by the Secretary of Labor. 17 ‘‘(B) The State ensures that applications for 18 unemployment compensation, and assistance with 19 the application process, are accessible in at least two 20 of the following: In-person, by phone, or online. 21 ‘‘(C) The State notifies applicants when an ap- 22 plication is received and is being processed, and in 23 any case in which an application is unable to be 24 processed, provides information about steps the ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6199 IH plicant can take to ensure the successful processing 1 of the application. 2 ‘‘(3) The requirements of this paragraph with respect 3 to a State are the following: 4 ‘‘(A) The State has expressed its commitment 5 to maintain and strengthen access to the unemploy- 6 ment compensation system, including through initial 7 and continued claims. 8 ‘‘(B) The State has demonstrated steps it has 9 taken or will take to ease eligibility requirements 10 and access to unemployment compensation for claim- 11 ants, including waiving work search requirements 12 and the waiting week, and directly or indirectly re- 13 lieving benefit charges for claimants and employers 14 directly impacted by COVID-19 due to an illness in 15 the workplace or direction from a public health offi- 16 cial to isolate or quarantine workers. 17 ‘‘(4) Any amount transferred to the account of a 18 State under this subsection may be used by such State 19 only for the administration of its unemployment com- 20 pensation law, including by taking such steps as may be 21 necessary to ensure adequate resources in periods of high 22 demand. 23 ‘‘(5) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact- 24 ment of this Act, each State receiving emergency adminis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6199 IH tration grant funding under paragraph (1)(C)(i) shall sub- 1 mit to the Secretary of Labor, the Committee on Ways 2 and Means of the House of Representatives, and the Com- 3 mittee on Finance of the Senate, a report that includes— 4 ‘‘(A) an analysis of the recipiency rate for un- 5 employment compensation in the State as such rate 6 has changed over time; 7 ‘‘(B) a description of steps the State intends to 8 take to increase such recipiency rate. 9 ‘‘(6)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 10 the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from the gen- 11 eral fund of the Treasury (from funds not otherwise ap- 12 propriated) to the employment security administration ac- 13 count (as established by section 901 of the Social Security 14 Act) such sums as the Secretary of Labor estimates to 15 be necessary for purposes of making the transfers de- 16 scribed in paragraph (1)(C). 17 ‘‘(B) There are appropriated from the general fund 18 of the Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, the sums 19 referred to in the preceding sentence and such sums shall 20 not be required to be repaid.’’. 21 (b) EMERGENCY FLEXIBILITY.—Notwithstanding 22 any other law, if a State modifies its unemployment com- 23 pensation law and policies (including with respect to work 24 search, waiting week, good cause, and employer experience 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6199 IH rating) on an emergency temporary basis as needed to re- 1 spond to the spread of COVID-19, such modifications 2 shall be disregarded for the purposes of applying section 3 303 of the Social Security Act and section 3304 of the 4 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to such State law. 5 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Labor may 6 prescribe any regulations, operating instructions, or other 7 guidance necessary to carry out the amendment made by 8 subsection (a). 9 SEC. 3. TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR STATES WITH AD- 10 VANCES. 11 Section 1202(b)(10)(A) of the Social Security Act 12 (42 U.S.C. 1322(b)(10)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘be- 13 ginning on the date of enactment of this paragraph and 14 ending on December 31, 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘beginning 15 on the date of enactment of the Emergency Unemploy- 16 ment Insurance Stabilization and Access Act of 2020 and 17 ending on December 31, 2020’’. 18 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND GUIDANCE FOR 19 SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION PROGRAMS. 20 The Secretary of Labor shall assist States in estab- 21 lishing, implementing, and improving the employer aware- 22 ness of short-time compensation programs (as defined in 23 section 3306(v) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6199 IH to help avert layoffs, including by providing technical as- 1 sistance and guidance. 2 SEC. 5. FULL FEDERAL FUNDING OF EXTENDED UNEM- 3 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR A LIMITED 4 PERIOD. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of sharable extended 6 compensation and sharable regular compensation paid for 7 weeks of unemployment beginning after the date of the 8 enactment of this section and before December 31, 2020 9 (and only with respect to States that receive emergency 10 administration grant funding under clauses (i) and (ii) of 11 section 903(h)(1)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 12 1102(h)(1)(C))), section 204(a)(1) of the Federal-State 13 Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 14 U.S.C. 3304 note) shall be applied by substituting ‘‘100 15 percent of’’ for ‘‘one-half of’’. 16 (b) TEMPORARY FEDERAL MATCHING FOR THE 17 FIRST WEEK OF EXTENDED BENEFITS FOR STATES 18 WITH NO WAITING WEEK.—With respect to weeks of un- 19 employment beginning after the date of the enactment of 20 this Act and ending on or before December 31, 2020, sub- 21 paragraph (B) of section 204(a)(2) of the Federal-State 22 Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 23 U.S.C. 3304 note) shall not apply. 24 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6199 IH (1) the terms ‘‘sharable extended compensa- 1 tion’’ and ‘‘sharable regular compensation’’ have the 2 respective meanings given such terms under section 3 204 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment 4 Compensation Act of 1970; and 5 (2) the term ‘‘week’’ has the meaning given 6 such term under section 205 of the Federal-State 7 Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 8 1970. 9 (d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Labor may 10 prescribe any operating instructions or regulations nec- 11 essary to carry out this section. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Mar 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6199.IH H6199 jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with BILLS