Emergency Portable Benefits for Independent Workers Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4276 To require the Secretary of Labor to establish a program for providing portable benefits to eligible workers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 22, 2020 Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To require the Secretary of Labor to establish a program for providing portable benefits to eligible workers, 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 ‘‘Emergency Portable 4 Benefits for Independent Workers Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Many independent workers and workers in 8 alternative work arrangements, constituting a sizable 9 percentage of the workforce in the United States, do 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4276 IS not have access to benefits and protections typically 1 provided through traditional full-time employment. 2 (2) Workers in alternative work arrangements 3 include independent contractors, domestic workers, 4 temporary workers, the self-employed, and others in 5 contingent work arrangements. 6 (3) According to a 2017 survey by the Bureau 7 of Labor Statistics, workers in alternative work ar- 8 rangements as their primary form of occupation con- 9 stitute 10.1 percent of the labor force, roughly 10 16,000,000 Americans. 11 (4) In response to the global pandemic caused 12 by the coronavirus, Congress created the temporary 13 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program under 14 title II of division A of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 15 and Economic Security Act (Public Law 116–136) 16 to provide access to unemployment insurance to pre- 17 viously ineligible workers, such as gig workers, free- 18 lancers, and the self-employed. 19 (5) The people of the United States should not 20 need an Act of Congress to have access to essential 21 benefits and protections during the next economic 22 downturn. 23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 24 In this Act: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4276 IS (1) CORONAVIRUS.—The term ‘‘coronavirus’’ 1 has the meaning given the term in section 506 of the 2 Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supple- 3 mental Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116– 4 123). 5 (2) ELIGIBLE WORK.—The term ‘‘eligible work’’ 6 means any work performed for pay that is not in 7 connection with traditional full-time employment. 8 (3) ELIGIBLE WORKER.—The term ‘‘eligible 9 worker’’ means— 10 (A) any worker who is not a permanent 11 full-time employee of the parent entity hiring 12 the worker for the eligible work, including any 13 independent contractor, contract worker, self- 14 employed individual, freelance worker, or tem- 15 porary worker; and 16 (B) any worker not traditionally eligible 17 for unemployment compensation under the law 18 of the State, including such a worker who has 19 been affected by the coronavirus. 20 (4) PORTABLE BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘portable 21 benefits’’— 22 (A) means work-related benefits that are 23 provided to eligible workers for eligible work in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4276 IS a manner that allows the worker to maintain 1 the benefits upon changing jobs; and 2 (B) includes— 3 (i) contributions on behalf of the eligi- 4 ble worker made by a hiring entity (includ- 5 ing multiple entities, if applicable) in con- 6 nection with eligible work performed by the 7 worker for the entity, including entities 8 that facilitate the sale of such work; 9 (ii) contributions made by the eligible 10 worker; 11 (iii) contributions on behalf of the eli- 12 gible worker made by consumers; 13 (iv) contributions on behalf of the eli- 14 gible worker made by labor organizations 15 or worker advocate non-profit organiza- 16 tions; 17 (v) contributions made by a State or 18 local unit of government; or 19 (vi) a combination of two or more of 20 the contributions described in clauses (i) 21 through (v). 22 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 23 the Secretary of Labor. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4276 IS (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 1 the several States of the United States, the District 2 of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the 3 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the North- 4 ern Mariana Islands. 5 (7) WORKER ADVOCATE NON-PROFIT ORGANI- 6 ZATION.—The term ‘‘worker advocate non-profit or- 7 ganization’’ means an entity— 8 (A) that is an organization— 9 (i) described in section 501(c) of the 10 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and ex- 11 empt from tax under section 501(a) of 12 such Code; or 13 (ii) wholly owned or controlled by an 14 organization described in clause (i); 15 (B) all of whose actions regarding pro- 16 viding benefits to workers are taken for the sole 17 purpose of maximizing benefits to the workers; 18 (C) that is neither owned nor controlled, in 19 whole or in part, by any entity that is not an 20 organization described in subparagraph (A)(i); 21 and 22 (D) that has a board of directors that 23 holds a fiduciary duty to the workers with re- 24 spect to provision of the benefits. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4276 IS (8) WORK-RELATED BENEFITS.—The term 1 ‘‘work-related benefits’’ means benefits of a type 2 that are commonly provided to traditional full-time 3 employees, such as workers’ compensation, paid 4 leave, skills training, disability coverage, health in- 5 surance coverage, retirement saving, income secu- 6 rity, and short-term saving. 7 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PORTABLE BENEFITS PRO- 8 GRAM. 9 (a) EMERGENCY PORTABLE BENEFITS PROGRAM 10 ESTABLISHED.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—By not later than September 12 1, 2020, the Secretary shall award funding, through 13 allotments described in subsection (b), to States 14 to— 15 (A) assist in the technology modernization 16 necessary for the expansion of unemployment 17 insurance; and 18 (B) support broad innovation and experi- 19 mentation with respect to portable benefits. 20 (2) DURATION OF ALLOTMENTS.—Allotments 21 awarded under this subsection shall be for not less 22 than a 2-year period. 23 (b) FORMULA.—Each State’s allotment under this 24 section shall bear the same relation to the amount avail- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4276 IS able to carry out this section as the population of the State 1 bears to the population of all States. 2 (c) STATE REQUIREMENTS.— 3 (1) PLAN AND IMPLEMENTATION REQUIRE- 4 MENTS.—A State that accepts an allotment under 5 this section shall agree to— 6 (A) submit a plan for the use of the allot- 7 ment, in accordance with the requirements of 8 subsection (d), by not later than 90 days after 9 receiving the allotment; and 10 (B) fully implement the plan submitted 11 under subparagraph (A) by not later than 2 12 years after receiving the allotment. 13 (2) RETURN OF FUNDS.—A State that does not 14 wish to receive an allotment under this section or 15 does not submit a plan described in paragraph 16 (1)(A) by the deadline required under such para- 17 graph shall return the State’s allotment to the Sec- 18 retary of the Labor. 19 (3) USE OF RETURNED FUNDS.—The Secretary 20 of Labor shall use any funds returned under para- 21 graph (2) to provide supplemental allotments to the 22 States that did submit a plan under paragraph (1), 23 in the same manner as under subsection (b). 24 (d) USES OF FUNDS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4276 IS (1) USE OF FUNDS TO IMPROVE UNEMPLOY- 1 MENT COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATION.—A State 2 receiving an allotment under this section shall use 3 50 percent of the amount of such allotment for im- 4 proving the administration systems of its unemploy- 5 ment compensation law, including by taking such 6 steps as may be necessary to ensure adequate re- 7 sources in periods of high demand and by modern- 8 izing the information technology infrastructure used 9 for such administration. 10 (2) USE OF FUNDS TO ESTABLISH EXPERI- 11 MENTAL PORTABLE BENEFIT PROGRAMS.—A State 12 receiving an allotment under this section shall, in 13 partnership with a local government, labor organiza- 14 tion, or worker advocate nonprofit organization, use 15 50 percent of the amount of such allotment for the 16 design, implementation, and evaluation of new mod- 17 els or approaches for providing portable benefits to 18 eligible workers, including— 19 (A) innovative proposals for paid leave, in- 20 cluding paid family leave and medical leave, 21 paid sick days, and annual leave; 22 (B) providing a job seeker’s allowance; 23 (C) retirement-related benefits; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4276 IS (D) the long-term expansion of eligibility 1 for unemployment compensation; and 2 (E) other programs specific to local econo- 3 mies in the State. 4 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 5 Not later than September 30, 2022, the Comptroller 6 General of the United States shall evaluate the outcome 7 of the allotments provided under section 4 and provide a 8 report on such evaluation to Congress. Such report shall 9 include an assessment of the impact of such allotments 10 on the compensation of workers receiving portable benefits 11 under section 4, in the aggregate and disaggregated by 12 socio-economic and racial or ethnic demographic variables. 13 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro- 15 priated to carry out this Act $500,000,000 for fiscal year 16 2021. 17 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under 18 subsection (a) shall remain available until expended. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4276.IS S4276 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS