ABLE Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6409 To establish the Emergency Social Insurance Program in the Social Security Administration and Small Business Administration in order to address the injury concerns of certain small businesses and idle workers disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 crisis. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 27, 2020 Ms. OMAR (for herself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. TLAIB) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To establish the Emergency Social Insurance Program in the Social Security Administration and Small Business Administration in order to address the injury concerns of certain small businesses and idle workers disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6409 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Assistance for Busi- 2 nesses and Local Economies Act’’ or the ‘‘ABLE Act of 3 2020’’. 4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION OF THE 5 EMERGENCY SOCIAL INSURANCE PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Social 7 Security Administration and the Administrator of the 8 Small Business Administration, under the direction of the 9 Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of the Treasury, re- 10 spectively, in consultation with the Commissioner of the 11 Internal Revenue Service, shall establish a joint program 12 to efficiently coordinate and deliver direct payments to af- 13 fected small businesses and affected idle workers during 14 the COVID-19 crisis. 15 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Emergency Social Insur- 16 ance Program shall be a dual approach for direct govern- 17 ment assistance to meet full salary need of lost wages 18 faced by affected idle workers and to meet full mainte- 19 nance need of output losses faced by affected small busi- 20 nesses in order to stabilize and shelter the economy from 21 COVID-19. 22 (c) COORDINATION.—The Social Security Adminis- 23 tration and the Department of Labor shall collaborate 24 with States to increase and maximize unemployment in- 25 surance benefits for affected idle workers through existing 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6409 IH State agency mechanisms. The Small Business Adminis- 1 tration and the Department of the Treasury (with the In- 2 ternal Revenue Service) shall be responsible for estab- 3 lishing and managing a $500 billion fund for direct eco- 4 nomic injury grants for qualifying small businesses, with 5 IRS assisting in verification and oversight of awards’ 6 amounts and uses. 7 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8 (1) SSA; SSA ADMINISTRATOR; SBA; SBA AD- 9 MINISTRATOR; IRS; IRS COMMISSIONER.—The terms 10 ‘‘SSA’’ and ‘‘SSA Administrator’’ mean the Social 11 Security Administration and the Administrator 12 thereof, the terms ‘‘SBA’’ and ‘‘SBA Administrator’’ 13 mean the Small Business Administration and the 14 Administrator thereof, the terms ‘‘IRS’’ and ‘‘IRS 15 Commissioner’’ mean the Internal Revenue Service 16 and the Commissioner thereof, respectively. 17 (2) COVID-19 CRISIS.—The term ‘‘COVID-19 18 crisis’’ means the period that begins upon the date 19 of the enactment of this Act and ends on the date 20 of the termination by the Federal Emergency Man- 21 agement Agency of the emergency declared on 22 March 13, 2020, by the President under the Robert 23 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6409 IH ance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to the 1 Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic. 2 (3) AFFECTED IDLE WORKER.—The term ‘‘af- 3 fected idle worker’’ means an individual who, as a 4 result of COVID-19— 5 (A) has no rights to regular compensation 6 with respect to a week under State law or any 7 other State unemployment compensation law or 8 to compensation under any other Federal law; 9 (B) is not receiving any State or private 10 paid leave with respect to such week; and 11 (C) can attest that— 12 (i) the individual is not able or avail- 13 able to work due to COVID-19 with re- 14 spect to such week; 15 (ii) the individual would be able and 16 available to work during such week, if not 17 for COVID-19; because 18 (iii) the individual has a current diag- 19 nosis of COVID-19; 20 (iv) the individual is under quarantine 21 (including self-imposed quarantine), at the 22 instruction of a health care provider, em- 23 ployer, or a local, State, or Federal official, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6409 IH in order to prevent the spread of COVID- 1 19; 2 (v) the individual is unable to engage 3 in self-employment and had past net earn- 4 ings from self-employment (as defined in 5 section 1402(a) of the Internal Revenue 6 Code of 1986) of not less than $2500 dur- 7 ing the 6-month period ending on the date 8 of enactment of this Act; 9 (vi) the individual had a contract or 10 other offer of employment suspended or re- 11 scinded due to COVID-19; 12 (vii) the individual is engaged in 13 caregiving (without compensation) for an 14 individual who has a current diagnosis of 15 COVID-19 or is under quarantine; or 16 (viii) the individual is engaged in 17 caregiving (without compensation), because 18 of the COVID-19-related closing of a 19 school or other care facility or care pro- 20 gram, for a child or other individual unable 21 to provide self-care. 22 (4) AFFECTED SMALL BUSINESS.—The term 23 ‘‘affected small business’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6409 IH (A) a small business concern (as defined 1 under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 2 U.S.C. 636)); 3 (B) a family farm; 4 (C) an independent contractor; and 5 (D) any other affected additional covered 6 entity, under section 5 of this Act, to which the 7 Small Business Administration determines 8 grants would promote full employment and fi- 9 nancial stability during the COVID-19 crisis. 10 (5) AFFECTED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.— 11 The term ‘‘affected small business concern’’ means 12 a small business concern that has experienced, as a 13 result of COVID-19— 14 (A) supply chain disruptions, including 15 changes in— 16 (i) quantity and lead time, including 17 the number of shipments and components 18 and delays in shipments; 19 (ii) quality, including shortages in 20 supply for quality control reasons; and 21 (iii) technology, including a com- 22 promised payment network; 23 (B) staffing challenges; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6409 IH (C) a decrease in profits, sales, or cus- 1 tomers; or 2 (D) a closure. 3 SEC. 3. ENHANCEMENT OF EMERGENCY COVID-19 UNEM- 4 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR AFFECTED 5 IDLE WORKERS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Social 7 Security Administration (referred to as the ‘‘SSA Admin- 8 istrator’’ in this section), in consultation with the Sec- 9 retary of Labor, shall assist States to offer expanded un- 10 employment insurance for workers reporting as idle or un- 11 employed, as a result of the public health emergency de- 12 clared because of COVID-19. 13 (b) IDLE DEFINED.—The term ‘‘idle’’ means a work- 14 er facing substantial economic uncertainty and hardship 15 due the COVID-19 and its social distancing, including but 16 not limited to— 17 (1) food service industry workers and hospi- 18 tality workers; 19 (2) domestic workers and tipped workers; 20 (3) gig economy workers, freelancers, and other 21 self-employed individuals; and 22 (4) independent contractors. 23 (c) FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS.—Any State 24 which desires to do so may enter into and participate in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6409 IH an agreement under this section with the Secretary of 1 Labor (hereinafter this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec- 2 retary’’). Any State which is a party to an agreement 3 under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written 4 notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement. 5 (d) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under this 7 section shall provide the following: 8 (A) EMERGENCY COVID-19 UNEMPLOY- 9 MENT COMPENSATION.—The State agency of 10 the State will make payments of regular com- 11 pensation to individuals in amounts and to the 12 extent that they would be determined if that 13 State law of the State were applied, with re- 14 spect to any week for which the individual is 15 (disregarding this section) otherwise entitled 16 under the State law to receive regular com- 17 pensation, as if such State law had been modi- 18 fied in a manner such that the amount of reg- 19 ular compensation (including dependents’ allow- 20 ances) payable for any week shall be equal to 21 meet 100 percent salary— 22 (i) the amount determined under the 23 State law (before the application of this 24 paragraph), plus additional amount caps 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6409 IH (referred to as ‘‘Emergency COVID-19 1 Unemployment Compensation’’ in this sec- 2 tion), including— 3 (ii) up to an additional $5,000 per 4 month for all affected idle workers of such 5 affected small businesses (described in sec- 6 tion 3 of this Act); 7 (iii) up to an additional $4,000 per 8 month for all affected idle tipped workers, 9 certain domestic workers, and independent 10 contractors; and 11 (iv) up to an additional $3,000 per 12 month for all other affected and eligible 13 self-employed individuals, such as gig econ- 14 omy workers and freelancers. 15 (B) EMERGENCY COVID-19 SHORT-TIME 16 COMPENSATION.—In the case of a State that 17 provides under the State law for the payment of 18 short-time compensation under a short-time 19 compensation program (as defined in section 20 3306(v) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), 21 the State agency of the State will make pay- 22 ments of compensation to employees partici- 23 pating in such program in amounts and to the 24 extent that they would be determined under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6409 IH such program if the State law of the State were 1 applied with respect to any week for which the 2 individual is (disregarding this section) other- 3 wise eligible under the program under the State 4 law to receive such compensation, as if such 5 State law had been modified in a manner such 6 that the amount of compensation payable for 7 any week shall be equal to the amount deter- 8 mined under the State law (before the applica- 9 tion of this paragraph) plus half the eligible 10 amount of the caps in subparagraph (A) in this 11 section (d). 12 (2) ALLOWABLE METHODS OF PAYMENT.—Any 13 Emergency COVID-19 Unemployment Compensa- 14 tion or Emergency COVID-19 Short-Time Com- 15 pensation provided for in the accordance with para- 16 graph (1) shall be payable either— 17 (A) as an amount which is paid at the 18 same time and in the same manner as any com- 19 pensation otherwise payable for the week in- 20 volved; or 21 (B) at the option of the State, by pay- 22 ments which are made separately from, but on 23 the same weekly basis as, any compensation 24 otherwise payable. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6409 IH (e) NONREDUCTION RULE.—Any agreement under 1 this section shall not apply (or shall cease to apply) with 2 respect to a State upon a determination by the Secretary 3 that the method governing computation of regular com- 4 pensation under the State law of that State has been 5 modified in a manner such that the maximum benefit enti- 6 tlement and the average weekly benefit amount of regular 7 compensation (or short-time compensation in the case of 8 a State described in subsection (d)(1)(B) which will be 9 payable during the period of the agreement (determined 10 disregarding any Emergency COVID-19 Unemployment 11 Compensation or Emergency COVID-19 Short-time Com- 12 pensation) will be less than the maximum benefit entitle- 13 ment and the average weekly benefit amount of regular 14 compensation (or short-time compensation) which would 15 otherwise have been payable during such period under the 16 State law, as in effect on January 1, 2020. 17 (f) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.— 19 (A) FULL REIMBURSEMENT.—There shall 20 be paid to each State which has entered into an 21 agreement under this section an amount equal 22 to 100 percent of— 23 (i) the total amount of Emergency 24 COVID-19 Unemployment Compensation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6409.IH H6409 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6409 IH paid to individuals by the State pursuant 1 to such agreement; 2 (ii) the total amount of Emergency 3 COVID-19 Short-Time Compensation paid 4 to individuals. By the State pursuant to 5 such agreement; and 6 (iii) any additional administrative ex- 7 penses incurred by the State by reason of 8 such agreement (as determined by the Sec- 9 retary). 10 (B) TERMS OF PAYMENTS.—Sums payable 11 to any State by reason of such State’s having 12 an agreement under this section shall be pay- 13 able, either in advance or by way of reimburse- 14 ment (as determined by the Secretary), in such 15 amounts as the Secretary Estimates that State 16 will be entitled to receive under this section for 17 each calendar month, reduced or increased, as 18 the case may be, by any amount by which the 19 Secretary finds that his estimates for any prior 20 cale [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]