American Workers, Families, and Employers Assistance Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4318 To provide assistance to American workers, families, and employers during the COVID–19 pandemic. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 27, 2020 Mr. GRASSLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide assistance to American workers, families, and employers during 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘American Workers, Families, and Employers Assistance 5 Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—FURTHER RELIEF FOR WORKERS AFFECTED BY CORONAVIRUS VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4318 IS Sec. 101. Improvements to Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to better match lost wages. Sec. 102. Supplemental emergency unemployment relief for governmental enti- ties and nonprofit organizations. Sec. 103. Conforming eligibility for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to dis- aster unemployment assistance and accelerating appeal review. Sec. 104. Improvements to State unemployment systems and strengthening program integrity. Sec. 105. TANF Coronavirus Emergency Fund. TITLE II—ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES AND EMPLOYERS TO REOPEN THE ECONOMY Subtitle A—Relief for Individuals and Families Sec. 201. Additional 2020 recovery rebates for individuals. Sec. 202. Modifications to recovery rebates made under the CARES Act. Subtitle B—Job Creation and Employment Sec. 211. Enhanced employee hiring and retention payroll tax credit. Sec. 212. Expansion of work opportunity credit. Sec. 213. Safe and healthy workplace tax credit. Sec. 214. COVID–19 assistance provided to independent contractors. Subtitle C—CARES Act Clarifications and Corrections Sec. 221. Application of special rules to money purchase pension plans. Sec. 222. Clarification of delay in payment of minimum required contributions. Sec. 223. Employee certification as to eligibility for increased CARES Act loan limits from employer plan. Sec. 224. Election to waive application of certain modifications to farming losses. Sec. 225. Oversight and audit reporting. TITLE III—SUPPORTING PATIENTS, PROVIDERS, OLDER AMERICANS, AND FOSTER YOUTH IN RESPONDING TO COVID–19 Subtitle A—Promoting Access to Care and Services Sec. 301. Maintaining 2021 Medicare part B premium and deductible at 2020 levels consistent with actuarially fair rates. Sec. 302. Improvements to the Medicare hospital accelerated and advance pay- ments programs during the COVID–19 public health emer- gency. Sec. 303. Authority to extend Medicare telehealth waivers. Sec. 304. Extending Medicare telehealth flexibilities for Federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. Sec. 305. Temporary carryover for health and dependent care flexible spending arrangements. Sec. 306. On-site employee clinics. Sec. 307. Support for older foster youth. Sec. 308. Court improvement program. Subtitle B—Emergency Support and COVID–19 Protection for Nursing Homes Sec. 311. Definitions. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4318 IS Sec. 312. Establishing COVID–19 strike teams for nursing facilities. Sec. 313. Promoting COVID–19 testing and infection control in nursing facili- ties. Sec. 314. Promoting transparency in COVID–19 reporting by nursing facilities. Sec. 315. Funding. TITLE IV—ADDITIONAL FLEXIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CORONAVIRUS RELIEF FUND PAYMENTS AND STATE TAX CER- TAINTY FOR EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS Sec. 401. Expansion of allowable use of Coronavirus Relief Fund payments by States and Tribal and Local Governments. Sec. 402. Accountability for the disbursement and use of State or government relief payments. Sec. 403. State tax certainty for employers and employees. TITLE V—EMERGENCY DESIGNATION Sec. 501. Emergency designation. TITLE I—FURTHER RELIEF FOR 1 WORKERS AFFECTED BY 2 CORONAVIRUS 3 SEC. 101. IMPROVEMENTS TO FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEM- 4 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION TO BETTER 5 MATCH LOST WAGES. 6 (a) EXTENSION.—Section 2104(e)(2) of the Relief 7 for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained in 8 subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act (Pub- 9 lic Law 116–136)) is amended by striking ‘‘July 31, 10 2020’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2020’’. 11 (b) IMPROVEMENTS TO ACCURACY OF PAYMENTS.— 12 (1) FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT COM- 13 PENSATION.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(b) of the 15 Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act 16 (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4318 IS of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)) is 1 amended— 2 (i) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking 3 ‘‘of $600’’ and inserting ‘‘equal to the 4 amount specified in paragraph (3)’’; and 5 (ii) by adding at the end the following 6 new paragraph: 7 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEM- 8 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount specified 10 in this paragraph is the following amount with 11 respect to an individual: 12 ‘‘(i) For weeks of unemployment be- 13 ginning after the date on which an agree- 14 ment is entered into under this section and 15 ending on or before July 31, 2020, $600. 16 ‘‘(ii) For weeks of unemployment be- 17 ginning after the last week under clause (i) 18 and ending before October 5, 2020; $200. 19 ‘‘(iii) Subject to subparagraph (B), 20 for weeks of unemployment beginning after 21 the last week under clause (ii) and ending 22 before December 31, 2020, an amount (not 23 to exceed $500) equal to one of the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4318 IS ‘‘(I) Subject to subclause (II), an 1 amount equal to— 2 ‘‘(aa) 70 percent of the indi- 3 vidual’s average weekly wages; 4 minus 5 ‘‘(bb) the individual’s base 6 amount (determined prior to any 7 reductions or offsets). 8 ‘‘(II) If proposed by the State as 9 an alternative to subclause (I) and ap- 10 proved by the Secretary, an amount 11 that results in the sum of the base 12 amount and the amount of Federal 13 Pandemic Unemployment Compensa- 14 tion under this section being on aver- 15 age equal to 70 percent of lost wages. 16 ‘‘(B) WAIVER TO TEMPORARILY CONTINUE 17 FLAT DOLLAR AMOUNT.—If a State determines 18 that it is unable to calculate amounts under ei- 19 ther subclause (I) or (II) of subparagraph 20 (A)(iii), the State may apply to the Secretary 21 for a waiver under which the amount specified 22 under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall apply under 23 this paragraph for weeks of unemployment be- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4318 IS ginning after the last week under subparagraph 1 (A)(ii) and ending before November 30, 2020. 2 ‘‘(C) BASE AMOUNT.—For purposes of this 3 paragraph, the term ‘base amount’ means, with 4 respect to an individual, an amount equal to— 5 ‘‘(i) for weeks of unemployment under 6 the pandemic unemployment assistance 7 program under section 2102, the amount 8 determined under subsection (d)(1)(A)(i) 9 or (d)(2) of such section 2102, as applica- 10 ble; or 11 ‘‘(ii) for all other weeks of unemploy- 12 ment, the amount determined under para- 13 graph (1)(A) of this subsection. 14 ‘‘(D) AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES.— 15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 16 (ii), for purposes of this paragraph, the 17 term ‘average weekly wages’ means, with 18 respect to an individual, the following: 19 ‘‘(I) If the State computes the in- 20 dividual weekly unemployment com- 21 pensation benefit amount based on an 22 individual’s average weekly wages in a 23 base period, an amount equal to the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4318 IS individual’s average weekly wages 1 used in such computation. 2 ‘‘(II) If the State computes the 3 individual weekly unemployment com- 4 pensation benefit amount based on 5 high quarter wages or a formula using 6 wages across some but not all quar- 7 ters in a base period, an amount equal 8 to 1⁄13 of such high quarter wages or 9 average wages of the applicable quar- 10 ters used in the computation for the 11 individual. 12 ‘‘(III) If the State uses computa- 13 tions other than the computations 14 under subclause (I) or (II) for the in- 15 dividual weekly unemployment com- 16 pensation benefit amount, or for com- 17 putations of the weekly benefit 18 amount under the pandemic unem- 19 ployment assistance program under 20 section 2102, as described in sub- 21 section (d)(1)(A)(i) or (d)(2) of such 22 section 2102, for which subclause (I) 23 or (II) do not apply, an amount equal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4318 IS to 1⁄52 of the sum of all base period 1 wages. 2 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—If more than 3 one of the methods of computation under 4 subclauses (I), (II), and (III) of clause (i) 5 are applicable to a State, then such term 6 shall mean the amount determined under 7 the applicable subclause of clause (i) that 8 results in the highest amount of average 9 weekly wages.’’. 10 (B) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT REGARDING 11 APPLICATION TO SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION 12 PROGRAMS AND AGREEMENTS.—Section 13 2104(i)(2) of the Relief for Workers Affected 14 by Coronavirus Act (contained in subtitle A of 15 title II of division A of the CARES Act (Public 16 Law 116–136)) is amended— 17 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 20 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 21 and’’; and 22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4318 IS ‘‘(E) short-time compensation under sec- 1 tion 2108 or 2109.’’. 2 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 3 (A) PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSIST- 4 ANCE.—Section 2102(d) of the Relief for Work- 5 ers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained in 6 subtitle A of title II of division A of the 7 CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)) is amended 8 by inserting ‘‘with respect to the individual’’ 9 after ‘‘section 2104’’ in each of paragraphs 10 (1)(A)(ii) and (2). 11 (B) PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEMPLOY- 12 MENT COMPENSATION.—Section 2107 of the 13 Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act 14 (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A 15 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)) is 16 amended— 17 (i) in subsection (a)(4)(A)(ii), by in- 18 serting ‘‘with respect to the individual’’ 19 after ‘‘section 2104’’; and 20 (ii) in subsection (b)(2), by inserting 21 ‘‘with respect to the individual’’ after ‘‘sec- 22 tion 2104’’. 23 (c) CONSISTENT TREATMENT OF EARNINGS AND UN- 24 EMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—Section 2104(h) of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4318 IS Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained 1 in subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act 2 (Public Law 116–136)) is amended by adding at the end 3 the following new sentence: ‘‘The preceding sentence shall 4 not apply to any Federal Pandemic Unemployment Com- 5 pensation paid to an individual with respect to a week of 6 unemployment ending on or after October 5, 2020.’’. 7 (d) REQUIREMENT FOR RETURN TO WORK NOTIFI- 8 CATION AND REPORTING.—Section 2104(b) of the Relief 9 for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained in 10 subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act (Pub- 11 lic Law 116–136)) is amended by adding at the end the 12 following new paragraph: 13 ‘‘(3) Beginning 30 days after the date of enact- 14 ment of this paragraph, any agreement under this 15 section shall require that the State has in place a 16 process to address refusal to return to work or re- 17 fusal of suitable work that includes the following: 18 ‘‘(A) Providing a plain-language notice to 19 individuals at the time of applying for benefits 20 regarding State law provisions relating to each 21 of the following: 22 ‘‘(i) Return to work requirements. 23 ‘‘(ii) Rights to refuse to return to 24 work or to refuse suitable work. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4318 IS ‘‘(iii) How to contest the denial of a 1 claim that has been denied due to a claim 2 by an employer that the individual refused 3 to return to work or refused suitable work. 4 ‘‘(B) Providing a plain-language notice to 5 employers through any system used by employ- 6 ers or any regular correspondence sent to em- 7 ployers regarding how to notify the State if an 8 individual refuses to return to work. 9 ‘‘(C) Other items determined appropriate 10 by the Secretary of Labor.’’. 11 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 12 this section (other than the amendment made by sub- 13 section (d)) shall take effect as if included in the enact- 14 ment of the Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus 15 Act (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A of 16 the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)). 17 SEC. 102. SUPPLEMENTAL EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT 18 RELIEF FOR GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES AND 19 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 903(i)(1)(B) of the Social 21 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1103(i)(1)(B)) is amended by 22 striking ‘‘one-half’’ and inserting ‘‘75 percent’’. 23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 24 subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in the enact- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Jul 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4318.IS S4318 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4318 IS ment of the Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus 1 Act (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A of 2 the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)). 3 SEC. 103. CONFORMING ELIGIBILITY FOR PANDEMIC UN- 4 EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE TO DISASTER [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]