Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4771 To provide continued assistance to unemployed workers. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide continued assistance to unemployed workers. 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 ‘‘Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 5 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. TITLE I—EXTENSIONS OF CARES ACT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR WORKERS Sec. 101. Extension of Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. Sec. 102. Extension of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Sec. 103. Extension of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4771 IS Sec. 104. Extension of temporary financing of short-time compensation pay- ments in States with programs in law. Sec. 105. Extension of temporary financing of short-time compensation agree- ments. Sec. 106. Extension of full Federal funding of the first week of compensable regular unemployment for States with no waiting week. TITLE II—ADDITIONAL WEEKS OF BENEFIT ELIGIBILITY Sec. 201. Additional weeks. TITLE III—CLARIFICATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE Sec. 301. Clarification of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance eligibility for primary caregiving. Sec. 302. Waiver authority for certain overpayments of Pandemic Unemploy- ment Assistance. Sec. 303. Clarification of access to Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for workers at businesses that reduced staff due to the pandemic. Sec. 304. Hold harmless for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. TITLE IV—EXTENSION OF RELIEF TO STATES AND EMPLOYERS Sec. 401. Extension of full Federal funding of extended unemployment com- pensation. Sec. 402. Extension of temporary assistance for States with advances. Sec. 403. Extension of emergency relief for governmental entities and nonprofit organizations. TITLE V—CORRECTIVE ACTION FOR PROCESSING BACKLOGS Sec. 501. State reporting on claims backlogs. TITLE VI—ADDITIONAL BENEFITS FOR MIXED EARNERS Sec. 601. Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation. TITLE VII—TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS Sec. 701. Grace period for full financing of Short-Time Compensation Pro- grams. Sec. 702. Technical correction for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Is- lands. Sec. 703. Technical amendment relating to Pandemic Unemployment Assist- ance. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4771 IS TITLE I—EXTENSIONS OF CARES 1 ACT UNEMPLOYMENT BENE- 2 FITS FOR WORKERS 3 SEC. 101. EXTENSION OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEMPLOY- 4 MENT COMPENSATION. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(e) of the CARES 6 Act (Public Law 116–136) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An agreement entered into 9 under this section shall apply— 10 ‘‘(A) to weeks of unemployment beginning 11 after the date on which such agreement is en- 12 tered into and ending on or before July 31, 13 2020; and 14 ‘‘(B) to weeks of unemployment beginning 15 after September 5, 2020 (or, if later, the date 16 on which such agreement is entered into) and 17 ending on or before January 31, 2021. 18 ‘‘(2) TRANSITION RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS RE- 19 MAINING ENTITLED TO REGULAR COMPENSATION AS 20 OF JANUARY 31, 2021.—In the case of any individual 21 who, as of the date specified in paragraph (1)(B), 22 has not yet exhausted all rights to regular com- 23 pensation under the State law of a State with re- 24 spect to a benefit year that began before such date, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4771 IS Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation 1 shall continue to be payable to such individual for 2 any week beginning on or after such date for which 3 the individual is otherwise eligible for regular com- 4 pensation with respect to such benefit year. 5 ‘‘(3) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any 6 other provision of this subsection, no Federal Pan- 7 demic Unemployment Compensation shall be payable 8 for any week beginning after March 31, 2021.’’. 9 (b) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF TRANSITION 10 RULE.—Section 2104(g) of such Act is amended by in- 11 serting ‘‘(except for subsection (e)(2))’’ after ‘‘the pre- 12 ceding provisions of this section’’. 13 (c) DISREGARD OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEMPLOY- 14 MENT COMPENSATION FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.—Section 15 2104(h) of such Act is amended to read as follows: 16 ‘‘(h) DISREGARD OF FEDERAL PANDEMIC UNEM- 17 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR PURPOSES OF ALL FED- 18 ERAL AND FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS.—A Federal 19 Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payment shall 20 not be regarded as income and shall not be regarded as 21 a resource for the month of receipt and the following 9 22 months, for purposes of determining the eligibility of the 23 recipient (or the recipient’s spouse or family) for benefits 24 or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assist- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4771 IS ance, under any Federal program or under any State or 1 local program financed in whole or in part with Federal 2 funds.’’. 3 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 4 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact- 5 ment of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136). 6 SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT AS- 7 SISTANCE. 8 Section 2102(c) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9 9021(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2020’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘January 31, 2021’’. 11 SEC. 103. EXTENSION OF PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEM- 12 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION. 13 Section 2107(g)(2) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 14 9025(g)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2020’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘January 31, 2021’’. 16 SEC. 104. EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY FINANCING OF 17 SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION PAYMENTS IN 18 STATES WITH PROGRAMS IN LAW. 19 Section 2108(b)(2) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 20 9026(b)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2020’’ 21 and inserting ‘‘January 31, 2021’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4771 IS SEC. 105. EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY FINANCING OF 1 SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION AGREEMENTS. 2 Section 2109(d)(2) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 3 9027(d)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2020’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘January 31, 2021’’. 5 SEC. 106. EXTENSION OF FULL FEDERAL FUNDING OF THE 6 FIRST WEEK OF COMPENSABLE REGULAR 7 UNEMPLOYMENT FOR STATES WITH NO WAIT- 8 ING WEEK. 9 Section 2105(e)(2) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 10 9024(e)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2020’’ 11 and inserting ‘‘January 31, 2021’’. 12 TITLE II—ADDITIONAL WEEKS 13 OF BENEFIT ELIGIBILITY 14 SEC. 201. ADDITIONAL WEEKS. 15 Subtitle A of title II of division A of the CARES Act 16 (15 U.S.C. 9021 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 17 section 2107 the following: 18 ‘‘SEC. 2107A. PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT EX- 19 TENSION COMPENSATION. 20 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any State which desires to 22 do so may enter into and participate in an agree- 23 ment under this section with the Secretary of Labor 24 (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’). Any 25 State which is a party to an agreement under this 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4771 IS section may, upon providing 30 days’ written notice 1 to the Secretary, terminate such agreement. 2 ‘‘(2) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.—Any agree- 3 ment under paragraph (1) shall provide that the 4 State agency of the State will make payments (in 5 this section referred to as ‘pandemic emergency un- 6 employment extension compensation’) to individuals 7 who— 8 ‘‘(A) have exhausted all rights to regular 9 compensation, extended compensation, pan- 10 demic unemployment assistance under section 11 2102, and pandemic emergency unemployment 12 compensation under section 2107; 13 ‘‘(B) have no rights to any benefit speci- 14 fied in subparagraph (A) or to compensation 15 under any other Federal law or under the un- 16 employment compensation law of Canada; and 17 ‘‘(C) are able to work, available to work, 18 and actively seeking work. 19 ‘‘(3) EXHAUSTION OF BENEFITS.—For pur- 20 poses of paragraph (2)(A), an individual shall be 21 deemed to have exhausted such individual’s rights to 22 benefits specified in subparagraph (A) when— 23 ‘‘(A) no payments of such benefits can be 24 made because such individual has received all 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4771 IS such benefits available to such individual based 1 on employment or wages during such individ- 2 ual’s base period; or 3 ‘‘(B) such individual’s rights to such bene- 4 fits have been terminated by reason of the expi- 5 ration of the benefit year with respect to which 6 such rights existed. 7 ‘‘(4) WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT, ETC.—For 8 purposes of any agreement under this section— 9 ‘‘(A) the amount of pandemic emergency 10 unemployment extension compensation which 11 shall be payable to any individual for any week 12 of total unemployment shall be equal to— 13 ‘‘(i) the amount of the base compensa- 14 tion (including any dependents’ allowances) 15 payable to such individual during such in- 16 dividual’s benefit year under the State law 17 for a week of total unemployment; and 18 ‘‘(ii) the amount of Federal Pandemic 19 Unemployment Compensation under sec- 20 tion 2104; 21 ‘‘(B) the terms and conditions of the State 22 law which apply to claims for regular compensa- 23 tion and to the payment thereof (including 24 terms and conditions relating to availability for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4771 IS work, active search for work, and refusal to ac- 1 cept work) shall apply to claims for pandemic 2 emergency unemployment extension compensa- 3 tion and the payment thereof, except where oth- 4 erwise inconsistent with the provisions of this 5 section or with the regulations or operating in- 6 structions of the Secretary promulgated to 7 carry out this section; 8 ‘‘(C) the maximum amount of pandemic 9 emergency unemployment extension compensa- 10 tion payable to any individual for whom a pan- 11 demic emergency unemployment extension com- 12 pensation account is established under sub- 13 section (b) shall not exceed the amount estab- 14 lished in such account for such individual; and 15 ‘‘(D) the allowable methods of payment 16 under section 2104(b)(2) shall apply to pay- 17 ments of amounts described in subparagraph 18 (A)(ii). 19 ‘‘(5) NONREDUCTION RULE.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An agreement under 21 this section shall not apply (or shall cease to 22 apply) with respect to a State upon a deter- 23 mination by the Secretary that the method gov- 24 erning the computation of regular compensation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4771 IS under the State law of that State has been 1 modified in a manner such that the number of 2 weeks (the maximum benefit entitlement), or 3 the average weekly benefit amount, of regular 4 compensation which will be payable during the 5 period of the agreement will be less than the 6 number of weeks, or the average weekly benefit 7 amount, of the average weekly benefit amount 8 of regular compensation which would otherwise 9 have been payable during such period under the 10 State law, as in effect on January 1, 2020. 11 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM BENEFIT ENTITLEMENT.— 12 In subparagraph (A), the term ‘maximum ben- 13 efit entitlement’ means the amount of regular 14 compensation payable to an individual with re- 15 spect to the individual’s benefit year. 16 ‘‘(6) ACTIVELY SEEKING WORK.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para- 18 graph (2)(C), the term ‘actively seeking work’ 19 means, with respect to any individual, that such 20 individual— 21 ‘‘(i) is registered for employment serv- 22 ices in such a manner and to such extent 23 as prescribed by the State agency; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4771 IS ‘‘(ii) has engaged in an active search 1 for employment that is appropriate in light 2 of the employment available in the labor 3 market, the individual’s skills and capabili- 4 ties, and includes a number of employer 5 contacts that is consistent with the stand- 6 ards communicated to the individual by the 7 State; 8 ‘‘(iii) has maintained a record of such 9 work search, including employers con- 10 tacted, method of contact, and date con- 11 tacted; and 12 ‘‘(iv) when requested, has provided 13 such work search record to the State agen- 14 cy. 15 ‘‘(B) FLEXIBILITY.—Notwithstanding the 16 requirements under subparagraph (A) and 17 paragraph (2)(C), a State shall provide flexi- 18 bility in meeting such requirements in case of 19 individuals unable to search for work because of 20 COVID–19, including because of illness, quar- 21 antine, or movement restriction. 22 ‘‘(b) PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COM- 23 PENSATION ACCOUNT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4771.IS S4771 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4771 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under this 1 section shall provide that the State will establish, for 2 each eligible individual who files an application for 3 pandemic emergency unemployment extension com- 4 pensation, a pandemic emergency unemployment ex- 5 tension compensation account with respect to such 6 individual’s benefit year. 7 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT IN ACCOUNT.—The amount es- 8 tablished in an account under subsection (a) shall be 9 equal to 13 times the individual’s aver [Text truncated for display. 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