Strengthening Unemployment Insurance for Coronavirus Impacted Workers and Students Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3619 To amend title II of division A of the CARES Act to modify certain provisions related to unemployment compensation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 6, 2020 Mr. REED introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title II of division A of the CARES Act to modify certain provisions related to unemployment compensa- tion, 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 ‘‘Strengthening Unem- 4 ployment Insurance for Coronavirus Impacted Workers 5 and Students Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT AS- 7 SISTANCE. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2102(b) of the CARES 9 Act (Public Law 116–136) is amended to read as follows: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3619 IS ‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AS A RE- 1 SULT OF COVID–19.—Subject to subsection (c), the Sec- 2 retary shall provide pandemic unemployment assistance— 3 ‘‘(1) to any covered individual while such indi- 4 vidual is unemployed, partially unemployed, or un- 5 able to work for the weeks of such unemployment 6 with respect to which the individual is not entitled 7 to any other unemployment compensation (as that 8 term is defined in section 85(b) of title 26, United 9 States Code) or waiting period credit; and 10 ‘‘(2) to any other individual for weeks with re- 11 spect to which the individual would be a covered in- 12 dividual but for the individual’s lack of a recent at- 13 tachment to the labor force.’’. 14 (b) AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE FOR NEW JOB EN- 15 TRANTS.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2102(d) of such Act 17 is amended— 18 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘The as- 19 sistance authorized under subsection (b)’’ and 20 inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (2), 21 the assistance authorized under subsection 22 (b)(1)’’; 23 (B) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 24 paragraph (4); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3619 IS (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE FOR NEW JOB 3 ENTRANTS.—The assistance authorized under sub- 4 section (b)(2) for an individual described in such 5 subsection for a week shall be an amount equal to 6 $300.’’. 7 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 8 2102(d)(2) of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘sub- 9 section (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(1)’’. 10 (c) RELATIONSHIP WITH FEDERAL PANDEMIC UN- 11 EMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—Section 2104(i)(2)(C) of 12 such Act is amended by striking ‘‘section 2102’’ and in- 13 serting ‘‘section 2102 (other than assistance provided 14 under subsection (b)(2) of such section)’’. 15 SEC. 3. FEDERAL PANDEMIC SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION. 16 Section 2104(b) of the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 17 136) is amended— 18 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para- 19 graph (3); and 20 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL PANDEMIC SHORT-TIME COM- 23 PENSATION.—Any agreement under this section 24 shall provide that, in the case of a State that pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3619 IS vides under the State law for the payment of short- 1 time compensation under a short-time compensation 2 program (as defined in section 3306(v) of the Inter- 3 nal Revenue Code of 1986), the State agency of the 4 State will make payments of compensation (as de- 5 fined in subsection (h) of such section) to employees 6 participating in such program in amounts and to the 7 extent that they would be determined under such 8 program if the State law of the State were applied, 9 with respect to any week for which the individual is 10 (disregarding this section) otherwise eligible under 11 the program under the State law to receive such 12 compensation, as if such State law had been modi- 13 fied in a manner such that the amount of compensa- 14 tion payable for any week shall be equal to the 15 amount determined under the State law (before the 16 application of this paragraph) plus $600 (in this sec- 17 tion referred to as ‘Federal Pandemic Short-Time 18 Compensation’).’’. 19 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEMPLOY- 20 MENT COMPENSATION. 21 Section 2104(e) of the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 22 136) is amended to read as follows: 23 ‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3619 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An agreement entered into 1 under this section shall apply to weeks of unemploy- 2 ment— 3 ‘‘(A) beginning on or after March 13, 4 2020; and 5 ‘‘(B) ending on or before January 1, 2021. 6 ‘‘(2) TRANSITION RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS RE- 7 MAINING ENTITLED TO REGULAR COMPENSATION AS 8 OF JANUARY 1, 2021.—In the case of any individual 9 who, as of the date specified in paragraph (1)(B), 10 has not yet exhausted all rights to regular com- 11 pensation under the State law of a State with re- 12 spect to a benefit year that began before such date 13 (or short-time compensation in the case of a State 14 described in subsection (b)(1)(B)), Federal Pan- 15 demic Unemployment Compensation or Federal Pan- 16 demic Short-Time Compensation (as the case may 17 be) shall continue to be payable to such individual 18 for any week beginning on or after such date for 19 which the individual is otherwise eligible for regular 20 compensation (or short-time compensation) with re- 21 spect to such benefit year. 22 ‘‘(3) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any 23 other provision of this subsection, no Federal Pan- 24 demic Unemployment Compensation or Federal Pan- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3619 IS demic Short-Time Compensation shall be payable for 1 any week beginning after June 30, 2021.’’. 2 SEC. 5. DISREGARD OF CERTAIN COMPENSATION FOR 3 MEANS-TESTED PROGRAMS. 4 (a) FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT COM- 5 PENSATION.—Section 2104(h) of the CARES Act (Public 6 Law 116–136) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(h) PAYMENT TO BE DISREGARDED FOR PURPOSES 8 OF ALL FEDERAL AND FEDERALLY ASSISTED PRO- 9 GRAMS.—A Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensa- 10 tion or Federal Pandemic Short-Time Compensation pay- 11 ment shall not be regarded as income and shall not be 12 regarded as a resource for the month of receipt and the 13 following 9 months, for purposes of determining the eligi- 14 bility of the recipient (or the recipient’s spouse or family) 15 for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of bene- 16 fits or assistance, under any Federal program or under 17 any State or local program financed in whole or in part 18 with Federal funds.’’. 19 (b) ENHANCED BENEFITS UNDER THE RAILROAD 20 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT.—Section 2(a)(5) of 21 the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 22 352(a)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(C) A recovery benefit payable under subparagraph 24 (A) shall not be regarded as income and shall not be re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3619 IS garded as a resource for the month of receipt and the fol- 1 lowing 9 months, for purposes of determining the eligi- 2 bility of the recipient (or the recipient’s spouse or family) 3 for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of bene- 4 fits or assistance, under any Federal program or under 5 any State or local program financed in whole or in part 6 with Federal funds.’’. 7 SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF FULL FEDERAL FUNDING OF EX- 8 TENDED UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION. 9 Section 4105 of the Families First Coronavirus Re- 10 sponse Act (Public Law 116–127) is amended by striking 11 ‘‘December 31, 2020’’ each place it appears and inserting 12 ‘‘June 30, 2021’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 May 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3619.IS S3619 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS