Emergency U.I. Solutions Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3482 To provide full Federal funding for regular unemployment compensation for the first week of otherwise compensable unemployment in areas. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 12, 2020 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide full Federal funding for regular unemployment compensation for the first week of otherwise compensable unemployment in areas. 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 U.I. Solu- 4 tions Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Mar 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3482 IS SEC. 2. TEMPORARY COVERAGE OF REGULAR UNEMPLOY- 1 MENT COMPENSATION FOR THE FIRST WEEK 2 OF OTHERWISE COMPENSABLE UNEMPLOY- 3 MENT IN AREAS COVERED BY AN EMER- 4 GENCY DECLARATION WITH FULL FEDERAL 5 FUNDING. 6 (a) FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS.—Any State 7 which desires to do so may enter into and participate in 8 an agreement under this section with the Secretary of 9 Labor (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’). Any 10 State which is a party to an agreement under this title 11 may, upon providing 30 days’ written notice to the Sec- 12 retary, terminate such agreement. 13 (b) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under sub- 15 section (a) shall provide that the State agency of the 16 State will make payments of regular compensation 17 to an individual for the first week of otherwise com- 18 pensable unemployment with respect to employment 19 in an area for which there is an emergency declara- 20 tion for such week. 21 (2) EMERGENCY DECLARATION.—In this sec- 22 tion, the term ‘‘emergency declaration’’ means, with 23 respect to an area, any of the following: 24 (A) A major disaster declared for the area 25 by the President under section 401 of the Rob- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3482 IS ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 1 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). 2 (B) An emergency declared for the area by 3 the President under section 501 of such Act 4 (42 U.S.C. 5191). 5 (C) A public health emergency declared for 6 the area by the Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services under section 319 of the Pub- 8 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d). 9 (c) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 10 (1) FULL REIMBURSEMENT.—There shall be 11 paid to each State which has entered into an agree- 12 ment under this section an amount equal to 100 per- 13 cent of— 14 (A) the total amount of regular compensa- 15 tion paid to individuals by the State pursuant 16 to such agreement; and 17 (B) any additional administrative expenses 18 incurred by the State by reason of such agree- 19 ment (as determined by the Secretary). 20 (2) TERMS OF PAYMENTS.—Sums payable to 21 any State by reason of such State’s having an agree- 22 ment under this section shall be payable, either in 23 advance or by way of reimbursement (as determined 24 by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3482 IS estimates the State will be entitled to receive under 1 this section for each calendar month, reduced or in- 2 creased, as the case may be, by any amount by 3 which the Secretary finds that his estimates for any 4 prior calendar month were greater or less than the 5 amounts which should have been paid to the State. 6 Such estimates may be made on the basis of such 7 statistical, sampling, or other method as may be 8 agreed upon by the Secretary and the State agency 9 of the State involved. 10 (d) FUNDING.— 11 (1) COMPENSATION.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Funds in the Federal 13 unemployment account (as established by sec- 14 tion 905(g)) of the Unemployment Trust Fund 15 (as established by section 904(a)) shall be used 16 to make payments under subsection (c)(1)(A). 17 (B) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—Notwith- 18 standing any other provision of law, the Sec- 19 retary of the Treasury shall transfer from the 20 general fund of the Treasury (from funds not 21 otherwise appropriated) to the Federal unem- 22 ployment account such sums as the Secretary of 23 Labor estimates to be necessary to make pay- 24 ments described in subparagraph (A). There 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3482 IS are appropriated from the general fund of the 1 Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, the 2 sums referred to in the preceding sentence and 3 such sums shall not be required to be repaid. 4 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Funds in the employ- 6 ment security administration account (as estab- 7 lished by section 901(a) of the Social Security 8 Act (42 U.S.C. 1105(a)) of the Unemployment 9 Trust Fund (as established by section 904(a) of 10 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1104(a)) shall be used to 11 make payments to States and Indian Tribes 12 pursuant to subsection (c)(1)(B). 13 (B) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—Notwith- 14 standing any other provision of law, the Sec- 15 retary of the Treasury shall transfer from the 16 general fund of the Treasury (from funds not 17 otherwise appropriated) to the employment se- 18 curity administration account such sums as the 19 Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to 20 make payments described in subparagraph (A). 21 There are appropriated from the general fund 22 of the Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, 23 the sums referred to in the preceding sentence 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3482 IS and such sums shall not be required to be re- 1 paid. 2 (3) CERTIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 3 from time to time certify to the Secretary of the 4 Treasury for payment to each State the sums pay- 5 able to such State under this section. 6 (e) APPLICABILITY.—An agreement entered into 7 under this section shall apply to weeks of unemployment 8 with respect to a State— 9 (1) beginning after the date on which such 10 agreement is entered into; and 11 (2) ending on or before the earlier of— 12 (A) January 1, 2022; or 13 (B) the date the State law is in compliance 14 with the requirement under section 3304(a)(22) 15 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 16 (f) FRAUD AND OVERPAYMENTS.—The provisions of 17 section 4005 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 18 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 2356) shall apply 19 with respect to compensation paid under an agreement 20 under this section to the same extent and in the same 21 manner as in the case of emergency unemployment com- 22 pensation under title IV of such Act. 23 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 24 terms ‘‘regular compensation’’, ‘‘State’’, ‘‘State agency’’, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3482 IS ‘‘State law’’, and ‘‘week’’ have the respective meanings 1 given such terms under section 205 of the Federal-State 2 Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 3 U.S.C. 3304 note). 4 SEC. 3. PERMANENT STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT TO PRO- 5 VIDE PAYMENT OF REGULAR UNEMPLOY- 6 MENT COMPENSATION FOR THE FIRST WEEK 7 OF OTHERWISE COMPENSABLE UNEMPLOY- 8 MENT. 9 (a) DISALLOWING WAITING WEEKS.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3304(a) of the In- 11 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to approval 12 of State unemployment compensation laws) is 13 amended— 14 (A) in paragraph (18), by striking ‘‘and’’ 15 at the end; 16 (B) by redesignating paragraph (19) as 17 paragraph (20); and 18 (C) by inserting after paragraph (18) the 19 following new paragraph: 20 ‘‘(19) compensation is paid to an individual for 21 their first week of otherwise compensable unemploy- 22 ment without a waiting week; and’’. 23 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 24 by this subsection shall apply to weeks of unemploy- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3482 IS ment beginning on or after January 1, 2022 (or ear- 1 lier if established by State law (but in no case earlier 2 than the date of enactment of this Act)). 3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO THE EXTENDED 4 BENEFIT PROGRAM.—Section 204(a) of the Federal-State 5 Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 6 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended— 7 (1) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘paid for’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘subject to paragraph (4), paid for’’; 9 and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(4) Subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) shall not 13 apply— 14 ‘‘(A) in the case of a State that pays regular 15 compensation to an individual for the first week of 16 otherwise compensable unemployment under an 17 agreement under section 2 of the Emergency U.I. 18 Solutions Act of 2020; or 19 ‘‘(B) to weeks of unemployment beginning on or 20 after the earlier of— 21 ‘‘(i) January 1, 2022; or 22 ‘‘(ii) with respect to a State, the date the 23 State law is in compliance with section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Mar 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3482 IS 3304(a)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1 1986.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Mar 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3482.IS S3482 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS