Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4378 To provide for a short-term extension of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 30, 2020 Mr. ROMNEY (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, and Ms. MCSALLY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide for a short-term extension of the Federal Pan- demic Unemployment Compensation program, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Exten- 5 sion Act of 2020’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Improvements to Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to better match lost wages. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4378 IS Sec. 3. Supplemental emergency unemployment relief for governmental entities and nonprofit organizations. Sec. 4. Conforming eligibility for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to dis- aster unemployment assistance and accelerating appeal review. Sec. 5. Improvements to State unemployment systems and strengthening pro- gram integrity. Sec. 6. Emergency designation. SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEM- 1 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION TO BETTER 2 MATCH LOST WAGES. 3 (a) EXTENSION.—Section 2104(e)(2) of the Relief 4 for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained in 5 subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act (Pub- 6 lic Law 116–136)) is amended by striking ‘‘July 31, 7 2020’’ and inserting ‘‘November 1, 2020’’. 8 (b) IMPROVEMENTS TO ACCURACY OF PAYMENTS.— 9 (1) FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT COM- 10 PENSATION.— 11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(b) of the 12 Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act 13 (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A 14 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)) is 15 amended— 16 (i) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking 17 ‘‘of $600’’ and inserting ‘‘equal to the 18 amount specified in paragraph (3)’’; and 19 (ii) by adding at the end the following 20 new paragraph: 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4378 IS ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEM- 1 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION.— 2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount specified 3 in this paragraph is the following amount with 4 respect to an individual: 5 ‘‘(i) For weeks of unemployment be- 6 ginning after the date on which an agree- 7 ment is entered into under this section and 8 ending on or before July 31, 2020, $600. 9 ‘‘(ii) For weeks of unemployment be- 10 ginning after the last week under clause (i) 11 and ending on or before August 31, 2020, 12 an amount equal to one of the following, as 13 determined by the State for all individuals: 14 ‘‘(I) $500. 15 ‘‘(II) An amount (not to exceed 16 $500) equal to— 17 ‘‘(aa) 80 percent of the indi- 18 vidual’s average weekly wages; 19 minus 20 ‘‘(bb) the individual’s base 21 amount (determined prior to any 22 reductions or offsets). 23 ‘‘(iii) For weeks of unemployment be- 24 ginning after the last week under clause 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4378 IS (ii) and ending on or before September 28, 1 2020, an amount equal to one of the fol- 2 lowing, as determined by the State for all 3 individuals: 4 ‘‘(I) $400. 5 ‘‘(II) The amount determined 6 under clause (ii)(II). 7 ‘‘(iv) For weeks of unemployment be- 8 ginning after the last week under clause 9 (iii) and ending on or before November 2, 10 2020, an amount equal to one of the fol- 11 lowing, as determined by the State for all 12 individuals: 13 ‘‘(I) $300. 14 ‘‘(II) The amount determined 15 under clause (ii)(II). 16 ‘‘(B) BASE AMOUNT.—For purposes of this 17 paragraph, the term ‘base amount’ means, with 18 respect to an individual, an amount equal to— 19 ‘‘(i) for weeks of unemployment under 20 the pandemic unemployment assistance 21 program under section 2102, the amount 22 determined under subsection (d)(1)(A)(i) 23 or (d)(2) of such section 2102, as applica- 24 ble; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4378 IS ‘‘(ii) for all other weeks of unemploy- 1 ment, the amount determined under para- 2 graph (1)(A) of this subsection. 3 ‘‘(C) AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES.— 4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 5 (ii), for purposes of this paragraph, the 6 term ‘average weekly wages’ means, with 7 respect to an individual, the following: 8 ‘‘(I) If the State computes the in- 9 dividual weekly unemployment com- 10 pensation benefit amount based on an 11 individual’s average weekly wages in a 12 base period, an amount equal to the 13 individual’s average weekly wages 14 used in such computation. 15 ‘‘(II) If the State computes the 16 individual weekly unemployment com- 17 pensation benefit amount based on 18 high quarter wages or a formula using 19 wages across some but not all quar- 20 ters in a base period, an amount equal 21 to 1⁄13 of such high quarter wages or 22 average wages of the applicable quar- 23 ters used in the computation for the 24 individual. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4378 IS ‘‘(III) If the State uses computa- 1 tions other than the computations 2 under subclause (I) or (II) for the in- 3 dividual weekly unemployment com- 4 pensation benefit amount, or for com- 5 putations of the weekly benefit 6 amount under the pandemic unem- 7 ployment assistance program under 8 section 2102, as described in sub- 9 section (d)(1)(A)(i) or (d)(2) of such 10 section 2102, for which subclause (I) 11 or (II) do not apply, an amount equal 12 to 1⁄52 of the sum of all base period 13 wages. 14 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—If more than 15 one of the methods of computation under 16 subclauses (I), (II), and (III) of clause (i) 17 are applicable to a State, then such term 18 shall mean the amount determined under 19 the applicable subclause of clause (i) that 20 results in the highest amount of average 21 weekly wages.’’. 22 (B) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT REGARDING 23 APPLICATION TO SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION 24 PROGRAMS AND AGREEMENTS.—Section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4378 IS 2104(i)(2) of the Relief for Workers Affected 1 by Coronavirus Act (contained in subtitle A of 2 title II of division A of the CARES Act (Public 3 Law 116–136)) is amended— 4 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 5 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 6 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 7 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 8 and’’; and 9 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(E) short-time compensation under sec- 12 tion 2108 or 2109.’’. 13 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 14 (A) PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSIST- 15 ANCE.—Section 2102(d) of the Relief for Work- 16 ers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained in 17 subtitle A of title II of division A of the 18 CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)) is amended 19 by inserting ‘‘with respect to the individual’’ 20 after ‘‘section 2104’’ in each of paragraphs 21 (1)(A)(ii) and (2). 22 (B) PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEMPLOY- 23 MENT COMPENSATION.—Section 2107 of the 24 Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4378 IS (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A 1 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)) is 2 amended— 3 (i) in subsection (a)(4)(A)(ii), by in- 4 serting ‘‘with respect to the individual’’ 5 after ‘‘section 2104’’; and 6 (ii) in subsection (b)(2), by inserting 7 ‘‘with respect to the individual’’ after ‘‘sec- 8 tion 2104’’. 9 (c) CONSISTENT TREATMENT OF EARNINGS AND UN- 10 EMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—Section 2104(h) of the 11 Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained 12 in subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act 13 (Public Law 116–136)) is amended by adding at the end 14 the following new sentence: ‘‘The preceding sentence shall 15 not apply to any Federal Pandemic Unemployment Com- 16 pensation paid to an individual with respect to a week of 17 unemployment ending on or after October 5, 2020.’’. 18 (d) REQUIREMENT FOR RETURN TO WORK NOTIFI- 19 CATION AND REPORTING.—Section 2104(b) of the Relief 20 for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained in 21 subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act (Pub- 22 lic Law 116–136)) is amended by adding at the end the 23 following new paragraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4378 IS ‘‘(3) Beginning 30 days after the date of enact- 1 ment of this paragraph, any agreement under this 2 section shall require that the State has in place a 3 process to address refusal to return to work or re- 4 fusal of suitable work that includes the following: 5 ‘‘(A) Providing a plain-language notice to 6 individuals at the time of applying for benefits 7 regarding State law provisions relating to each 8 of the following: 9 ‘‘(i) Return to work requirements. 10 ‘‘(ii) Rights to refuse to return to 11 work or to refuse suitable work. 12 ‘‘(iii) How to contest the denial of a 13 claim that has been denied due to a claim 14 by an employer that the individual refused 15 to return to work or refused suitable work. 16 ‘‘(B) Providing a plain-language notice to 17 employers through any system used by employ- 18 ers or any regular correspondence sent to em- 19 ployers regarding how to notify the State if an 20 individual refuses to return to work. 21 ‘‘(C) Other items determined appropriate 22 by the Secretary of Labor.’’. 23 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 24 this section (other than the amendment made by sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4378 IS section (d)) shall take effect as if included in the enact- 1 ment of the Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus 2 Act (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A of 3 the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)). 4 SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT RE- 5 LIEF FOR GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES AND 6 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 903(i)(1)(B) of the Social 8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1103(i)(1)(B)) is amended by 9 striking ‘‘one-half’’ and inserting ‘‘75 percent’’. 10 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 11 subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in the enact- 12 ment of the Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus 13 Act (contained in subtitle A of title II of division A of 14 the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136)). 15 SEC. 4. CONFORMING ELIGIBILITY FOR PANDEMIC UNEM- 16 PLOYMENT ASSISTANCE TO DISASTER UNEM- 17 PLOYMENT ASSISTANCE AND ACCELERATING 18 APPEAL REVIEW. 19 (a) CONFIRMATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR PANDEMIC 20 UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE.—Section 2102(a) of the 21 Relief for Workers Affected by Coronavirus Act (contained 22 in subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act 23 (Public Law 116–136)) is amended— 24 (1) in paragraph (3)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4378 IS (A) in subparagraph (A)— 1 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 2 the end; and 3 (ii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(iii) provides documentation substan- 6 tiating employment or self-employment or 7 the planned commencement of employment 8 or self-employment not later than 21 days 9 after the date on which the individual sub- 10 mits an application for assistance under 11 this section or is directed by the State 12 Agency to submit such documentation or 13 has shown good cause under the applicable 14 State law for failing to submit such docu- 15 mentation by the deadline, in accordance 16 with section 625.6(e) of title 20, Code of 17 Federal Regulations, or any successor 18 thereto, except that such documentation 19 shall not be required if the individual pre- 20 viously submitted such information to the 21 State agency for the purpose of obtaining 22 regular or other unemployment compensa- 23 tion; and’’; and 24 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4378 IS (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 1 the end; 2 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 3 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(iii) in accordance with section 7 625.6(e)(2) of title 20, Code of Federal 8 Regulations, or any successor thereto, an 9 individual who does not provide docu- 10 mentation substantiating employment or 11 self-employment or the planned commence- 12 ment of employment or self-employment 13 under subparagraph (A)(iii).’’; 14 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 15 paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 16 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 17 lowing: 18 ‘‘(4) DOCUMENTATION SUBSTANTIATING EM- 19 PLOYMENT OR SELF-EMPLOYMENT OR THE 20 PLANNED COMMENCEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT OR 21 SELF-EMPLOYMENT.—The term ‘documentation sub- 22 stantiating employment or self-employment or the 23 planned commencement of employment or self-em- 24 ployment’ means documentation provided by the in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4378.IS S4378 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4378 IS dividual substantiating employment or self-employ- 1 ment and wages earned or paid for such employment 2 or self-employment, or such information related to 3 the planned commencement of employment or self- 4 employment.’’. 5 (b) APPLICABILITY.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 30 7 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each 8 State shall require that documentation substan- 9 tiating employment or self-employment o [Text truncated for display. 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