State Paid Leave for America Now (PLAN) Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7744 To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 23, 2020 Mr. GOMEZ (for himself, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PA- NETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. PORTER, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SPEIER, and Mr. SUOZZI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7744 IH SEC. 2. FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF QUALIFIED STATE 1 PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are appropriated to the 3 Secretary of the Treasury such sums as necessary to make 4 payments to States to reimburse eligible State expendi- 5 tures in accordance with this section. 6 (b) ELIGIBLE STATE EXPENDITURE.—For purposes 7 of this section, the term ‘‘eligible State expenditure’’ 8 means any expenditure by a State— 9 (1) made during the period beginning on Janu- 10 ary 27, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2021, 11 with respect to any qualified paid leave program; 12 and 13 (2) consisting of any of the following: 14 (A) The payment of benefits by the State 15 under such program. 16 (B) Subject to subsection (d), the reim- 17 bursement of benefits paid by a private em- 18 ployer or insurer— 19 (i) required to maintain such program 20 under the law of the State; or 21 (ii) offering such a program on the 22 basis of reimbursement of tax relief pro- 23 vided by the State. 24 (C) The administrative costs to the State 25 of operating a qualified paid leave program 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7744 IH maintained by the State or issuing reimburse- 1 ments described in subparagraph (B). 2 (c) QUALIFIED PAID LEAVE PROGRAM.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 4 the term ‘‘qualified paid leave program’’ means any 5 program maintained by a State, or by a private em- 6 ployer or insurer required to maintain such program 7 under the law of the State, that provides paid leave 8 benefits described in paragraph (2), but only to the 9 extent that such benefits are paid for circumstances 10 related to COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 11 paragraph (3)). 12 (2) APPLICABLE PAID LEAVE BENEFITS.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 14 subparagraph (B), a paid leave benefit de- 15 scribed in this paragraph is a benefit which pro- 16 vides full or partial wage replacement to em- 17 ployees on the basis of specifically defined 18 qualifying events defined under the law or pro- 19 gram policy of a State and which ends either 20 when the qualifying event is no longer applica- 21 ble or a set period of benefits is exhausted. 22 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—A paid leave benefit 23 described in this paragraph does not include— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7744 IH (i) any form of accrued paid leave or 1 any form of paid leave for which accrued 2 paid leave is required to be substituted; 3 (ii) any form of compensation paid in 4 remedy for a workplace injury, illness, or 5 death or in exchange for forfeiting any 6 right of action against the employer for a 7 workplace injury, illness, or death; or 8 (iii) any paid leave with respect to 9 which any taxpayer is eligible for a credit 10 under division G of the Families First 11 Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 12 116–127). 13 (3) CIRCUMSTANCES RELATED TO COVID-19.— 14 For purposes of this section, a benefit is paid for 15 circumstances related to COVID-19 if, in order to be 16 eligible for such benefit, the recipient must be an in- 17 dividual who (as determined by the qualified paid 18 leave program under the law of the State)— 19 (A) has a current or presumptive diagnosis 20 of COVID-19 from a health care provider; 21 (B) is under quarantine (including self-im- 22 posed quarantine or self-isolation) at the in- 23 struction of a health care provider, employer, or 24 a local, State, or Federal official— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7744 IH (i) in order to prevent the spread of 1 COVID-19; or 2 (ii) due to underlying health condi- 3 tions that put the individual at high risk if 4 they contract COVID-19; 5 (C) is engaged in caregiving for an indi- 6 vidual who has a current or presumptive diag- 7 nosis of COVID-19 from a health care provider 8 or is under quarantine as described in subpara- 9 graph (B); or 10 (D) meets such other circumstances re- 11 lated to COVID-19 as the law of the State or 12 the Secretary of the Treasury (in consultation 13 with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 14 ices and the Secretary of Labor) may provide. 15 (d) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENTS.— 16 A State may not treat an expenditure described in sub- 17 section (b)(2) with respect to a qualified paid leave pro- 18 gram as an eligible State expenditure— 19 (1) with respect to benefits paid by the State 20 under such program as described in subparagraph 21 (A) of such subsection, if the State, during the pe- 22 riod described in subsection (b)(1) or during the 6- 23 month period immediately following such period, re- 24 stricts eligibility or reduces program benefits (in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7744 IH cluding with respect to duration of leave, wage re- 1 placement rate, or maximum benefits or coverage) 2 related to such program; and 3 (2) with respect to benefits paid by a private 4 employer or insurer as described in subparagraph 5 (B) of such subsection, unless the private employer 6 or insurer receiving reimbursement under such sub- 7 section provides assurances to the satisfaction of the 8 State that— 9 (A) the private employer or insurer has in 10 effect procedures— 11 (i) to determine whether a benefit is 12 paid for circumstances related to COVID- 13 19 that comply with the standard estab- 14 lished in subsection (c)(3); and 15 (ii) to report such determinations to 16 the State; and 17 (B)(i) during the period described in sub- 18 section (b)(1) and during the 6-month period 19 beginning on the date on which the entity re- 20 ceives such reimbursement from the State, the 21 private employer or insurer will not— 22 (I) raise any premium (if applicable) 23 with respect to any plan for which the pri- 24 vate employer or insurer submitted expend- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7744 IH itures to the State for reimbursement, un- 1 less the premium increase is directly and 2 proportionally tied to expanded or in- 3 creased paid leave program benefits man- 4 dated by law or to increased utilization un- 5 related to circumstances related to 6 COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 7 paragraph (3)); or 8 (II) reduce any benefit (including with 9 respect to duration of leave, wage replace- 10 ment rate, maximum benefits or coverage) 11 with respect to any such plan; and 12 (ii) in any case in which the private em- 13 ployer or insurer violates clause (i), the private 14 employer or insurer agrees to repay the State 15 any such reimbursement received. 16 In any case in which a private employer or insurer repays 17 any amount to a State pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(ii), 18 the State shall repay to the Secretary of the Treasury such 19 portion of payments received by the State under sub- 20 section (a) as pertain to such amount. 21 (e) TIMING AND PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENTS.— 22 (1) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES.— 23 (A) INITIAL ESTIMATE.—Not later than 24 September 30, 2020, each State seeking a pay- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7744 IH ment under this section shall certify to the Sec- 1 retary of the Treasury an initial estimate of the 2 total amount of eligible State expenditures the 3 State expects to make with respect to calendar 4 years 2020 and 2021. 5 (B) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than July 6 1, 2023, each such State shall certify a final re- 7 port of the total amount of eligible State ex- 8 penditures made with respect to such calendar 9 years. Such report shall also include— 10 (i) the number of benefit claims that 11 qualified for reimbursement, by eligibility 12 category and type of leave; 13 (ii) the average duration of benefit re- 14 ceipt with respect to each such eligibility 15 category and type of leave; and 16 (iii) any demographic information 17 about recipients, disaggregated by eligi- 18 bility category and type of leave, which is 19 collected by the State or private insurer 20 during the application process. 21 Not later than December 31, 2023, the Sec- 22 retary of the Treasury shall submit a report to 23 Congress providing aggregate data summarizing 24 such final report. Such final report shall not in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7744 IH clude any individually identifiable information 1 or any information which is protected by State 2 or Federal privacy law, and nothing in this sub- 3 paragraph shall be construed to require a State 4 or private insurer to collect any information 5 from applicants beyond the extent information 6 described in clause (iii) is collected during the 7 application process. 8 (2) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Secretary of 9 the Treasury shall make payments under this section 10 on a quarterly basis during calendar years 2020 and 11 2021 beginning on December 31, 2020, based on an 12 amount equal to 75 percent of the initial estimates 13 received pursuant to paragraph (1)(A). 14 (3) RECONCILIATION.—Not later than Sep- 15 tember 30, 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 16 reconcile with each State amounts paid pursuant to 17 paragraph (2) with the final report submitted by the 18 State pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), and shall pay 19 additional amounts to the State or collect overpay- 20 ments as necessary based on the amount specified in 21 such final report. 22 (f) DEFINITION OF STATE.—For purposes of this 23 section, the term ‘‘State’’ means any of the 50 States or 24 the District of Columbia. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7744 IH SEC. 3. STUDY. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall 2 conduct a study to examine the potential impact on the 3 economy had a national paid leave program been in effect 4 during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2022, 6 the Comptroller General shall submit a report to Congress 7 on the results of the study under subsection (a). 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7744.IH H7744 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS