I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7821 To automatically extend and adjust enhanced unemployment assistance for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency and economic crisis, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 29, 2020 Mr. BEYER (for himself, Mr. KILMER, Mr. PETERS, Mr. HECK, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. SOTO, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. DEAN, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. FRANKEL, Mr. RYAN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. KIND, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. FLETCHER, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. HIMES, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. CASE, Ms. DELBENE, Mrs. TORRES of California, and Mr. SCHNEIDER) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To automatically extend and adjust enhanced unemployment assistance for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency and economic crisis, 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 ‘‘Worker Relief and Se- 4 curity Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7821 IH SEC. 2. TIERED EXPANSION OF PANDEMIC UNEMPLOY- 1 MENT ASSISTANCE. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2102(c) of the CARES 3 Act (15 U.S.C. 9021(c)) is amended— 4 (1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol- 5 lows: 6 ‘‘(2) DURATION OF ASSISTANCE.—The total 7 number of weeks for which a covered individual may 8 receive assistance under this section shall be equal 9 to— 10 ‘‘(A) in the case of a covered individual 11 who first becomes eligible for assistance under 12 an agreement with a State under this section 13 beginning with any week ending on or before 14 January 31, 2021, the sum of— 15 ‘‘(i) the number of weeks sufficient to 16 provide for the payment of pandemic un- 17 employment assistance to such individual 18 for each week ending on or before such 19 date with respect to which such agreement 20 is in effect; and 21 ‘‘(ii) the number of weeks, beginning 22 with the 1st week ending after such date, 23 determined with respect to such State for 24 such week under paragraph (4); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7821 IH ‘‘(B) in the case of a covered individual 1 who first becomes eligible for assistance under 2 an agreement with a State under this section 3 beginning with any week after the week ending 4 on or before such date, the number of weeks, 5 beginning with the 1st week for which the cov- 6 ered individual becomes so eligible, determined 7 with respect to such State for such week under 8 paragraph (4).’’; and 9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(4) WEEKS OF ASSISTANCE AFTER JANUARY 11 2021.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The number of weeks 13 determined with respect to a State under this 14 paragraph with respect to the reference week of 15 a covered individual shall be the applicable 16 number of weeks specified with respect to such 17 State for the covered individual in the table 18 provided in subparagraph (B), except that— 19 ‘‘(i) in any case in which a State is 20 designated under section 2115(a) as a 21 higher tier State for any 3-month period 22 subsequent to the 3-month period in which 23 the reference week of a covered individual 24 ends, the applicable number of weeks spec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7821 IH ified in such table with respect to a State 1 designated as such a higher tier State shall 2 be substituted for the number of weeks 3 otherwise applicable for such covered indi- 4 vidual; and 5 ‘‘(ii) if for any 3-month period de- 6 scribed in section 2115(a) the national un- 7 employment rate (as determined by the 8 Secretary of Labor for the base period con- 9 sisting of the most recent 13-week period 10 ending not less than 14 days before the be- 11 ginning of such quarter) is less than 5.5 12 percent and has decreased for at least the 13 last 2 months of such 3-month period, the 14 applicable number of weeks with respect to 15 a State designated under section 2115(a) 16 as a Tier I State shall be zero in any case 17 in which the reference week of a covered 18 individual ends in any subsequent 3-month 19 period. 20 ‘‘(B) TIERED EXTENSIONS.—The table 21 provided in this subparagraph is as follows: 22 ‘‘If the reference week of a covered individual ends in a 3-month period for which the State has been designated under section 2115(a) as a... The applicable number of weeks for the covered indi- vidual is... Tier I State or Tier II State ................................. 13 Tier III State ......................................................... 26 Tier IV State ......................................................... 39 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7821 IH ‘‘If the reference week of a covered individual ends in a 3-month period for which the State has been designated under section 2115(a) as a... The applicable number of weeks for the covered indi- vidual is... Tier V State ........................................................... 52 Tier VI State ......................................................... 65. ‘‘(C) REFERENCE WEEK.—For purposes of 1 this paragraph, the term ‘reference week’ of a 2 covered individual means the 1st week ending 3 after January 31, 2021, for which the covered 4 individual is eligible for assistance under an 5 agreement with a State under this section.’’. 6 (b) ELIGIBILITY EXPANSION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2102(a)(3) of the 8 CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9021(a)(3)) is amended to 9 read as follows: 10 ‘‘(3) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov- 11 ered individual’ means an individual who is not eligi- 12 ble for regular compensation under State or Federal 13 law or pandemic emergency unemployment com- 14 pensation under section 2107 and who— 15 ‘‘(A)(i) has exhausted all rights to such 16 regular compensation and pandemic emergency 17 unemployment compensation (within the mean- 18 ing of section 2107(a)(3)); and 19 ‘‘(ii) would be eligible for regular com- 20 pensation but for the exhaustion of such rights; 21 or 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7821 IH ‘‘(B)(i) provides self-certification that the 1 individual— 2 ‘‘(I) is otherwise able to work and 3 available for work within the meaning of 4 applicable State law, except the individual 5 is unemployed, partially unemployed, or 6 unable or unavailable to work because— 7 ‘‘(aa) the individual has been di- 8 agnosed with COVID–19 or is experi- 9 encing symptoms of COVID–19 and 10 seeking a medical diagnosis; 11 ‘‘(bb) a member of the individ- 12 ual’s household has been diagnosed 13 with COVID–19; 14 ‘‘(cc) the individual is providing 15 care for a family member or a mem- 16 ber of the individual’s household who 17 has been diagnosed with COVID–19; 18 ‘‘(dd) a child or other person in 19 the household for which the individual 20 has primary caregiving responsibility 21 is unable to attend school, a childcare 22 facility, a long-term care facility, or 23 related facility, or is unable to access 24 in-home care, as a result of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7821 IH COVID-19 national emergency, and 1 such school, facility, or in-home care 2 is required for the individual to work; 3 ‘‘(ee) the individual is unable to 4 reach the place of employment be- 5 cause of a quarantine imposed as a 6 result of the COVID-19 national 7 emergency; 8 ‘‘(ff) the individual is unable to 9 reach the place of employment be- 10 cause the individual has been advised 11 by a health care provider to self-quar- 12 antine due to concerns related to the 13 COVID-19 national emergency, in- 14 cluding because the individual resides 15 with an individual at higher risk of se- 16 vere illness; 17 ‘‘(gg) the individual was sched- 18 uled to commence employment and 19 does not have a job or is unable to 20 reach the job as a result of the 21 COVID-19 national emergency; 22 ‘‘(hh) the individual has become 23 the breadwinner or major support for 24 a household because the head of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7821 IH household has died as a result of the 1 COVID-19 national emergency; 2 ‘‘(ii) the individual has to quit 3 his or her job as a result of the 4 COVID-19 national emergency; 5 ‘‘(jj) the individual’s place of em- 6 ployment is closed as a result of the 7 COVID-19 national emergency; 8 ‘‘(kk) the individual is otherwise 9 unable to obtain employment as a re- 10 sult of the COVID-19 national emer- 11 gency; or 12 ‘‘(ll) the individual meets any ad- 13 ditional criteria established by the 14 Secretary for unemployment assist- 15 ance under this section; or 16 ‘‘(II) is self-employed, is seeking part- 17 time employment, does not have sufficient 18 work history, or otherwise would not qual- 19 ify for regular unemployment or extended 20 benefits under State or Federal law or 21 pandemic emergency unemployment com- 22 pensation under section 2107 and meets 23 the requirements of subclause (I). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7821 IH Such term does not include an individual 1 who has the ability to telework with pay or 2 who is receiving paid sick leave or other 3 paid leave benefits, regardless of whether 4 such individual otherwise meets the re- 5 quirements of subparagraph (B)(i)(I).’’. 6 (2) EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY RELATED TO 7 ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF COVID-19.—Section 8 2102(a)(2) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9 9021(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 10 ‘‘(2) COVID-19 NATIONAL EMERGENCY.—The 11 term ‘COVID-19 national emergency’ means the 12 public health emergency declared by the Secretary of 13 Health and Human Services on January 27, 2020, 14 with respect to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, and its 15 macroeconomic consequences.’’. 16 (3) EXTENSION OF ELIGIBILITY TO INDIVID- 17 UALS WITHOUT A RECENT ATTACHMENT TO THE 18 LABOR FORCE.—Section 2102(b) of the CARES Act 19 (15 U.S.C. 9021(b)) is amended to read as follows: 20 ‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AS A RE- 21 SULT OF COVID–19 NATIONAL EMERGENCY.—Subject to 22 subsection (c), the Secretary shall provide pandemic un- 23 employment assistance— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7821 IH ‘‘(1) to any covered individual while such indi- 1 vidual is unemployed, partially unemployed, or un- 2 able to work for the weeks of such unemployment 3 with respect to which the individual is not entitled 4 to any other unemployment compensation (as that 5 term is defined in section 85(b) of title 26, United 6 States Code) or waiting period credit; and 7 ‘‘(2) to any other individual for weeks with re- 8 spect to which the individual would be a covered in- 9 dividual but for the individual’s lack of a recent at- 10 tachment to the labor force.’’. 11 (4) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 2102 12 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9021) is amended— 13 (A) in subsection (c)(1), by striking 14 ‘‘COVID-19’’ and inserting ‘‘the COVID-19 na- 15 tional emergency’’ each place it appears; and 16 (B) in subsection (h)(1), by striking 17 ‘‘COVID–19 public health emergency’’ and in- 18 serting ‘‘COVID-19 national emergency’’. 19 (c) COORDINATION WITH EXTENDED COMPENSA- 20 TION.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2102(f) of such Act 22 (15 U.S.C. 9021(f)) is amended by adding at the 23 end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 7821 IH ‘‘(4) COORDINATION WITH EXTENDED COM- 1 PENSATION.—An agreement under this section shall 2 apply with respect to a State only upon a determina- 3 tion by the Secretary that, under the State law or 4 other applicable rules of such State, the payment of 5 extended compensation for which an individual is 6 otherwise eligible must be deferred until after the 7 payment of any pandemic unemployment assistance 8 under subsection (b) for which the individual is con- 9 currently eligible.’’. 10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 11 2102(a)(3)(A)(i) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 12 9021(a)(3)(A)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘or ex- 13 tended benefits’’ each place it appears. 14 (d) APPLICABILITY.—Section 2102(c)(1) of such Act 15 (15 U.S.C. 9021(c)(1)) is amended— 16 (1) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as 17 follows: 18 ‘‘(A) for weeks of unemployment, partial 19 unemployment, or inability to work caused by 20 COVID–19 beginning on or after January 27, 21 2020; and’’; and 22 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘subject to 23 subparagraph (A)(ii),’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:11 Aug 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 7821 IH SEC. 3. TIERED EXTENSION OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEM- 1 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(b) of the CARES 3 Act (15 U.S.C. 9023(b)) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(B) an addi- 5 tional amount’’ and all that follows through the end 6 and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘(B) an additional amount (in this section 8 referred to as ‘Federal Pandemic Unemploy- 9 ment Compensation’) of— 10 ‘‘(i) for weeks with respect to which 11 such agreement is in effect ending on or 12 before the date that is 30 days after the 13 date on which any national emergency de- 14 clared by the President under the National 15 Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) 16 relating to COVID-19 (or any extension 17 thereof) terminates, including the national 18 emergency declared on March 13, 2020, 19 and any subsequent national emergency, 20 $600; 21 ‘‘(ii) for the [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]