Protecting Renters from Evictions and Fees Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4097 To provide a temporary moratorium on eviction filings, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 29, 2020 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WYDEN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To provide a temporary moratorium on eviction filings, 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 ‘‘Protecting Renters 4 from Evictions and Fees Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. EVICTION MORATORIUM. 6 Section 4024 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9058) 7 is amended to read as follows: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jul 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4097.IS S4097 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4097 IS ‘‘SEC. 4024. TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON EVICTION FIL- 1 INGS. 2 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 3 ‘‘(1) according to the 2018 American Commu- 4 nity Survey, 36 percent of households in the United 5 States, or more than 43,000,000 people, are renters; 6 ‘‘(2) in 2019, renters in the United States paid 7 $512,000,000,000 in rent; 8 ‘‘(3) according to the Joint Center for Housing 9 Studies of Harvard University, 20,800,000 renters 10 in the United States spent more than 30 percent of 11 their incomes on housing in 2018 and 10,900,000 12 renters spent more than 50 percent of their incomes 13 on housing in the same year; 14 ‘‘(4) according to data from the Department of 15 Labor, more than 40,000,000 people in the United 16 States have filed for unemployment since the 17 COVID–19 pandemic began; 18 ‘‘(5) the impacts of the spread of COVID–19, 19 which is now considered a global pandemic, are ex- 20 pected to negatively impact the incomes of poten- 21 tially millions of renter households, making it dif- 22 ficult for them to pay their rent on time; and 23 ‘‘(6) evictions in the current environment would 24 increase homelessness and housing instability, which 25 would be counterproductive to the public health 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jul 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4097.IS S4097 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4097 IS goals of keeping individuals in their homes to the 1 greatest extent possible. 2 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 ‘‘(1) COVERED DWELLING.—The term ‘covered 4 dwelling’ means a dwelling that is occupied by a ten- 5 ant— 6 ‘‘(A) pursuant to a residential lease; or 7 ‘‘(B) without a lease or with a lease ter- 8 minable at will under State law. 9 ‘‘(2) DWELLING.—The term ‘dwelling’— 10 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 11 section 802 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12 3602); and 13 ‘‘(B) includes a house or dwelling de- 14 scribed in section 803(b) of such Act (42 15 U.S.C. 3603(b)). 16 ‘‘(c) MORATORIUM.—During the 1-year period begin- 17 ning on March 27, 2020, the lessor of a covered dwelling 18 may not— 19 ‘‘(1) make, or cause to be made, any filing with 20 the court of jurisdiction to initiate a legal action to 21 recover possession of the covered dwelling from the 22 tenant for nonpayment of rent or other fees or 23 charges, or for reasons motivated wholly or in part 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jul 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4097.IS S4097 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4097 IS by the nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges 1 by the tenant; or 2 ‘‘(2) charge fees, penalties, or other charges to 3 the tenant related to such nonpayment of rent. 4 ‘‘(d) NOTICE TO VACATE AFTER MORATORIUM EXPI- 5 RATION DATE.—After the expiration of the period de- 6 scribed in subsection (c), the lessor of a covered dwelling 7 may not require the tenant to vacate the covered dwelling 8 by reason of nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges 9 before the expiration of the 30-day period that begins 10 upon the provision by the lessor to the tenant, after the 11 expiration of the period described in subsection (c), of a 12 notice to vacate the covered dwelling.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:52 Jul 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4097.IS S4097 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS