Social Services Pandemic Disaster Relief Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6862 To provide funding to States, localities, and community-based organizations for emergency aid and services in response to the COVID–19 pandemic. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2020 Ms. JUDY CHU of California (for herself, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, and Mr. GOMEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide funding to States, localities, and community-based organizations for emergency aid and services in response to the COVID–19 pandemic. 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 ‘‘Social Services Pan- 4 demic Disaster Relief Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FUNDING TO STATES, LOCALITIES, AND COMMU- 6 NITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS FOR EMER- 7 GENCY AID AND SERVICES. 8 (a) FUNDING FOR STATES.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6862 IH (1) INCREASE IN FUNDING FOR SOCIAL SERV- 1 ICES BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM.— 2 (A) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money 3 in the Treasury of the United States not other- 4 wise appropriated, there are appropriated 5 $9,600,000,000, which shall be available for 6 payments under section 2002 of the Social Se- 7 curity Act. 8 (B) DEADLINE FOR DISTRIBUTION OF 9 FUNDS.—Within 45 days after the date of the 10 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 11 and Human Services shall distribute the funds 12 made available by this paragraph, which shall 13 be made available to States on an emergency 14 basis for immediate obligation and expenditure. 15 (C) SUBMISSION OF REVISED PRE-EX- 16 PENDITURE REPORT.—Within 90 days after a 17 State receives funds made available by this 18 paragraph, the State shall submit to the Sec- 19 retary a revised pre-expenditure report pursu- 20 ant to title XX of the Social Security Act that 21 describes how the State plans to administer the 22 funds. 23 (D) OBLIGATION OF FUNDS BY STATES.— 24 A State to which funds made available by this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6862 IH paragraph are distributed shall obligate the 1 funds not later than December 31, 2020. 2 (E) EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS BY 3 STATES.—A grantee to which a State (or a sub- 4 grantee to which a grantee) provides funds 5 made available by this paragraph shall expend 6 the funds not later than December 31, 2021. 7 (2) RULES GOVERNING USE OF ADDITIONAL 8 FUNDS.—A State to which funds made available by 9 paragraph (1)(B) are distributed shall use the funds 10 in accordance with the following: 11 (A) PURPOSE.— 12 (i) IN GENERAL.—The State shall use 13 the funds only to support the provision of 14 emergency services to disadvantaged chil- 15 dren, families, and households. 16 (ii) DISADVANTAGED DEFINED.—In 17 this paragraph, the term ‘‘disadvantaged’’ 18 means, with respect to an entity, that the 19 entity— 20 (I) is an individual, or is located 21 in a community, that is experiencing 22 material hardship; 23 (II) is a household in which there 24 is a child (as defined in section 12(d) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6862 IH of the Richard B. Russell National 1 School Lunch Act) or a child served 2 under section 11(a)(1) of such Act, 3 who, if not for the closure of the 4 school attended by the child during a 5 public health emergency designation 6 and due to concerns about a COVID– 7 19 outbreak, would receive free or re- 8 duced price school meals pursuant to 9 such Act; 10 (III) is an individual, or is lo- 11 cated in a community, with barriers to 12 employment; or 13 (IV) is located in a community 14 that, as of the date of the enactment 15 of this Act, is not experiencing a 56- 16 day downward trajectory of— 17 (aa) influenza-like illnesses; 18 (bb) COVID-like syndromic 19 cases; 20 (cc) documented COVID–19 21 cases; or 22 (dd) positive test results as 23 a percentage of total COVID–19 24 tests. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6862 IH (B) PASS-THROUGH TO LOCAL ENTI- 1 TIES.— 2 (i) In the case of a State in which a 3 county administers or contributes finan- 4 cially to the non-Federal share of the 5 amounts expended in carrying out a State 6 program funded under title IV of the So- 7 cial Security Act, the State may pass at 8 least 50 percent of all funds so made avail- 9 able through to— 10 (I) the chief elected official of the 11 city or county that administers the 12 program; or 13 (II) local government and com- 14 munity-based organizations. 15 (ii) In the case of any other State and 16 any State to which clause (i) applies that 17 does not pass through funds as described 18 in that clause, the State shall— 19 (I) pass at least 50 percent of 20 the funds through to— 21 (aa)(AA) local governments 22 that will expend or distribute the 23 funds in consultation with com- 24 munity-based organizations with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6862 IH experience serving disadvantaged 1 families or individuals; or 2 (BB) community-based or- 3 ganizations with experience serv- 4 ing disadvantaged families and 5 individuals; and 6 (bb) sub-State areas in pro- 7 portions based on the population 8 of disadvantaged individuals liv- 9 ing in the areas; and 10 (II) report to the Secretary on 11 how the State determined the 12 amounts passed through pursuant to 13 this clause. 14 (C) METHODS.— 15 (i) IN GENERAL.—The State shall use 16 the funds only for— 17 (I) administering emergency serv- 18 ices; 19 (II) providing short-term cash, 20 non-cash, or in-kind emergency dis- 21 aster relief; 22 (III) providing services with dem- 23 onstrated need in accordance with ob- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6862 IH jective criteria that are made available 1 to the public; 2 (IV) operational costs directly re- 3 lated to providing services described 4 in subclauses (I), (II), and (III); 5 (V) local government emergency 6 social service operations; and 7 (VI) providing emergency social 8 services to rural and frontier commu- 9 nities that may not have access to 10 other emergency funding streams. 11 (ii) ADMINISTERING EMERGENCY 12 SERVICES DEFINED.—In clause (i), the 13 term ‘‘administering emergency services’’ 14 means— 15 (I) providing basic disaster relief, 16 economic, and well-being necessities to 17 ensure communities are able to safely 18 observe shelter-in-place and social 19 distancing orders; 20 (II) providing necessary supplies 21 such as masks, gloves, and soap, to 22 protect the public against infectious 23 disease; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6862 IH (III) connecting individuals, chil- 1 dren, and families to services or pay- 2 ments for which they may already be 3 eligible. 4 (D) PROHIBITIONS.— 5 (i) NO INDIVIDUAL ELIGIBILITY DE- 6 TERMINATIONS BY GRANTEES OR SUB- 7 GRANTEES.—Neither a grantee to which 8 the State provides the funds nor any sub- 9 grantee of such a grantee may exercise in- 10 dividual eligibility determinations for the 11 purpose of administering short-term, non- 12 cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief to 13 communities. 14 (ii) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN SO- 15 CIAL SERVICES BLOCK GRANT FUNDS USE 16 LIMITATIONS.—The State shall use the 17 funds subject to the limitations in section 18 2005 of the Social Security Act, except 19 that, for purposes of this clause, section 20 2005(a)(2) and 2005(a)(8) of such Act 21 shall not apply. 22 (iii) NO SUPPLANTATION OF CERTAIN 23 STATE FUNDS.—The State may use the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6862 IH funds to supplement, not supplant, State 1 general revenue funds for social services. 2 (iv) BAN ON USE FOR CERTAIN COSTS 3 REIMBURSABLE BY FEMA.—The State may 4 not use the funds for costs that are reim- 5 bursable by the Federal Emergency Man- 6 agement Agency, under a contract for in- 7 surance, or by self-insurance. 8 (b) FUNDING FOR FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN 9 TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.— 10 (1) GRANTS.— 11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Within 90 days after 12 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 13 retary of Health and Human Services shall 14 make grants to federally recognized Indian 15 Tribes and Tribal organizations. 16 (B) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of 17 the grant for an Indian Tribe or Tribal organi- 18 zation shall bear the same ratio to the amount 19 appropriated by paragraph (3) as the total 20 amount of grants awarded to the Indian Tribe 21 or Tribal organization under the Low-Income 22 Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 and the 23 Community Service Block Grant for fiscal year 24 2020 bears to the total amount of grants 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6862 IH awarded to all Indian Tribes and Tribal organi- 1 zations under such Act and such Grant for the 2 fiscal year. 3 (2) RULES GOVERNING USE OF FUNDS.—An 4 entity to which a grant is made under paragraph (1) 5 shall obligate the funds not later than December 31, 6 2020, and the funds shall be expended by grantees 7 and subgrantees not later than December 31, 2021, 8 and used in accordance with the following: 9 (A) PURPOSE.— 10 (i) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall 11 use the funds only to support the provision 12 of emergency services to disadvantaged 13 households. 14 (ii) DISADVANTAGED DEFINED.—In 15 clause (i), the term ‘‘disadvantaged’’ 16 means, with respect to an entity, that the 17 entity— 18 (I) is an individual, or is located 19 in a community, that is experiencing 20 material hardship; 21 (II) is a household in which there 22 is a child (as defined in section 12(d) 23 of the Richard B. Russell National 24 School Lunch Act) or a child served 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6862 IH under section 11(a)(1) of such Act, 1 who, if not for the closure of the 2 school attended by the child during a 3 public health emergency designation 4 and due to concerns about a COVID– 5 19 outbreak, would receive free or re- 6 duced price school meals pursuant to 7 such Act; 8 (III) is an individual, or is lo- 9 cated in a community, with barriers to 10 employment; or 11 (IV) is located in a community 12 that, as of the date of the enactment 13 of this Act, is not experiencing a 56- 14 day downward trajectory of— 15 (aa) influenza-like illnesses; 16 (bb) COVID-like syndromic 17 cases; 18 (cc) documented COVID–19 19 cases; or 20 (dd) positive test results as 21 a percentage of total COVID–19 22 tests. 23 (B) METHODS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6862 IH (i) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall 1 use the funds only for— 2 (I) administering emergency serv- 3 ices; 4 (II) providing short-term, non- 5 cash, in-kind emergency disaster re- 6 lief; and 7 (III) tribal emergency social serv- 8 ice operations. 9 (ii) ADMINISTERING EMERGENCY 10 SERVICES DEFINED.—In clause (i), the 11 term ‘‘administering emergency services’’ 12 means— 13 (I) providing basic economic and 14 well-being necessities to ensure com- 15 munities are able to safely observe 16 shelter-in-place and social distancing 17 orders; 18 (II) providing necessary supplies 19 such as masks, gloves, and soap, to 20 protect the public against infectious 21 disease; and 22 (III) connecting individuals, chil- 23 dren, and families to services or pay- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 6862 IH ments for which they may already be 1 eligible. 2 (C) PROHIBITIONS.— 3 (i) NO INDIVIDUAL ELIGIBILITY DE- 4 TERMINATIONS BY GRANTEES OR SUB- 5 GRANTEES.—Neither the grantee nor any 6 subgrantee may exercise individual eligi- 7 bility determinations for the purpose of ad- 8 ministering short-term, non-cash, in-kind 9 emergency disaster relief to communities. 10 (ii) BAN ON USE FOR CERTAIN COSTS 11 REIMBURSABLE BY FEMA.—The grantee 12 may not use the funds for costs that are 13 reimbursable by the Federal Emergency 14 Management Agency, under a contract for 15 insurance, or by self-insurance. 16 (3) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money in the 17 Treasury of the United States not otherwise appro- 18 priated, there are appropriated to the Secretary of 19 Health and Human Services $400,000,000 to carry 20 out this subsection. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:46 Jun 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6862.IH H6862 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS