State Paid Leave for America Now (PLAN) Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4316 To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave programs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 23, 2020 Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. REED, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave programs, 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 ‘‘State Paid Leave for 4 America Now (PLAN) Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF QUALIFIED STATE 6 PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are appropriated to the 8 Secretary of the Treasury such sums as necessary to make 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4316 IS payments to States to reimburse eligible State expendi- 1 tures in accordance with this section. 2 (b) ELIGIBLE STATE EXPENDITURE.—For purposes 3 of this section, the term ‘‘eligible State expenditure’’ 4 means any expenditure by a State— 5 (1) made during the period beginning on Janu- 6 ary 27, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021, 7 with respect to any qualified paid leave program; 8 and 9 (2) consisting of any of the following: 10 (A) The payment of benefits by the State 11 under such program. 12 (B) Subject to subsection (d), the reim- 13 bursement of benefits paid by a private em- 14 ployer or insurer— 15 (i) required to maintain such program 16 under the law of the State; or 17 (ii) offering such a program on the 18 basis of reimbursement of tax relief pro- 19 vided by the State. 20 (C) The administrative costs to the State 21 of operating a qualified paid leave program 22 maintained by the State or issuing reimburse- 23 ments described in subparagraph (B). 24 (c) QUALIFIED PAID LEAVE PROGRAM.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4316 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 1 the term ‘‘qualified paid leave program’’ means any 2 program maintained by a State, or by a private em- 3 ployer or insurer required to maintain such program 4 under the law of the State, that provides paid leave 5 benefits described in paragraph (2), but only to the 6 extent that such benefits are paid for circumstances 7 related to COVID–19 (as determined pursuant to 8 paragraph (3)). 9 (2) APPLICABLE PAID LEAVE BENEFITS.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 11 subparagraph (B), a paid leave benefit de- 12 scribed in this paragraph is a benefit which pro- 13 vides full or partial wage replacement to em- 14 ployees on the basis of specifically defined 15 qualifying events defined under the law or pro- 16 gram policy of a State and which ends either 17 when the qualifying event is no longer applica- 18 ble or a set period of benefits is exhausted. 19 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—A paid leave benefit 20 described in this paragraph does not include— 21 (i) any form of accrued paid leave or 22 any form of paid leave for which accrued 23 paid leave is required to be substituted; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4316 IS (ii) any form of compensation paid in 1 remedy for a workplace injury, illness, or 2 death or in exchange for forfeiting any 3 right of action against the employer for a 4 workplace injury, illness, or death; or 5 (iii) any paid leave with respect to 6 which any taxpayer is eligible for a credit 7 under division G of the Families First 8 Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 9 116–127). 10 (3) CIRCUMSTANCES RELATED TO COVID–19.— 11 For purposes of this section, a benefit is paid for 12 circumstances related to COVID–19 if, in order to 13 be eligible for such benefit, the recipient must be an 14 individual who (as determined by the qualified paid 15 leave program under the law of the State)— 16 (A) has a current or presumptive diagnosis 17 of COVID–19 from a health care provider; 18 (B) is under quarantine (including self-im- 19 posed quarantine or self-isolation) at the in- 20 struction of a health care provider, employer, or 21 a local, State, or Federal official— 22 (i) in order to prevent the spread of 23 COVID–19; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4316 IS (ii) due to underlying health condi- 1 tions that put the individual at high risk if 2 they contract COVID–19; 3 (C) is engaged in caregiving for an indi- 4 vidual who has a current or presumptive diag- 5 nosis of COVID–19 from a health care provider 6 or is under quarantine as described in subpara- 7 graph (B); or 8 (D) meets such other circumstances re- 9 lated to COVID–19 as the law of the State or 10 the Secretary of the Treasury (in consultation 11 with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 12 ices and the Secretary of Labor) may provide. 13 (d) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENTS.— 14 A State may not treat an expenditure described in sub- 15 section (b)(2) with respect to a qualified paid leave pro- 16 gram as an eligible State expenditure— 17 (1) with respect to benefits paid by the State 18 under such program as described in subparagraph 19 (A) of such subsection, if the State, during the pe- 20 riod described in subsection (b)(1) or during the 6- 21 month period immediately following such period, re- 22 stricts eligibility or reduces program benefits (in- 23 cluding with respect to duration of leave, wage re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4316 IS placement rate, or maximum benefits or coverage) 1 related to such program; and 2 (2) with respect to benefits paid by a private 3 employer or insurer as described in subparagraph 4 (B) of such subsection, unless the private employer 5 or insurer receiving reimbursement under such sub- 6 section provides assurances to the satisfaction of the 7 State that— 8 (A) the private employer or insurer has in 9 effect procedures— 10 (i) to determine whether a benefit is 11 paid for circumstances related to COVID– 12 19 that comply with the standard estab- 13 lished in subsection (c)(3); and 14 (ii) to report such determinations to 15 the State; and 16 (B)(i) during the period described in sub- 17 section (b)(1) and during the 6-month period 18 beginning on the date on which the entity re- 19 ceives such reimbursement from the State, the 20 private employer or insurer will not— 21 (I) raise any premium (if applicable) 22 with respect to any plan for which the pri- 23 vate employer or insurer submitted expend- 24 itures to the State for reimbursement, un- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4316 IS less the premium increase is directly and 1 proportionally tied to expanded or in- 2 creased paid leave program benefits man- 3 dated by law or to increased utilization un- 4 related to circumstances related to 5 COVID–19 (as determined pursuant to 6 subsection (c)(3)); or 7 (II) reduce any benefit (including with 8 respect to duration of leave, wage replace- 9 ment rate, or maximum benefits or cov- 10 erage) with respect to any such plan; and 11 (ii) in any case in which the private em- 12 ployer or insurer violates clause (i), the private 13 employer or insurer agrees to repay the State 14 any such reimbursement received. 15 In any case in which a private employer or insurer repays 16 any amount to a State pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(ii), 17 the State shall repay to the Secretary of the Treasury such 18 portion of payments received by the State under sub- 19 section (a) as pertain to such amount. 20 (e) TIMING AND PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENTS.— 21 (1) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES.— 22 (A) INITIAL ESTIMATE.—Not later than 23 September 30, 2020, each State seeking a pay- 24 ment under this section shall certify to the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4316 IS retary of the Treasury an initial estimate of the 1 total amount of eligible State expenditures the 2 State expects to make with respect to calendar 3 years 2020 and 2021. 4 (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than July 5 1, 2023, each such State shall certify a final re- 6 port of the total amount of eligible State ex- 7 penditures made with respect to such calendar 8 years. Such report shall also include— 9 (i) the number of benefit claims that 10 qualified for reimbursement, by eligibility 11 category and type of leave; 12 (ii) the average duration of benefit re- 13 ceipt with respect to each such eligibility 14 category and type of leave; and 15 (iii) any demographic information 16 about recipients, disaggregated by eligi- 17 bility category and type of leave, which is 18 collected by the State or private employer 19 or insurer during the application process. 20 Not later than December 31, 2023, the Sec- 21 retary of the Treasury shall submit a report to 22 Congress providing aggregate data summarizing 23 such final report. Such final report shall not in- 24 clude any individually identifiable information 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4316 IS or any information which is protected by State 1 or Federal privacy law, and nothing in this sub- 2 paragraph shall be construed to require a State 3 or private employer or insurer to collect any in- 4 formation from applicants beyond the extent in- 5 formation described in clause (iii) is collected 6 during the application process. 7 (2) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Secretary of 8 the Treasury shall make payments under this section 9 on a quarterly basis during calendar years 2020 and 10 2021 beginning on December 31, 2020, based on an 11 amount equal to 75 percent of the initial estimates 12 received pursuant to paragraph (1)(A). 13 (3) RECONCILIATION.—Not later than Sep- 14 tember 30, 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 15 reconcile with each State amounts paid pursuant to 16 paragraph (2) with the final report submitted by the 17 State pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), and shall pay 18 additional amounts to the State or collect overpay- 19 ments as necessary based on the amount specified in 20 such final report. 21 (f) DEFINITION OF STATE.—For purposes of this 22 section, the term ‘‘State’’ means any of the 50 States or 23 the District of Columbia. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4316 IS SEC. 3. STUDY. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 2 United States shall conduct a study to examine the poten- 3 tial impact on the economy had a national paid leave pro- 4 gram been in effect during and after the COVID–19 pan- 5 demic. 6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2022, 7 the Comptroller General shall submit a report to Congress 8 on the results of the study under subsection (a). 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4316.IS S4316 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS