Ending Administrative Garnishment Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 5023 To suspend and reform the authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965 for the Secretary of Education to carry out an administrative wage garnishment program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 15, 2020 Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To suspend and reform the authority under the Higher Edu- cation Act of 1965 for the Secretary of Education to carry out an administrative wage garnishment program. 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 ‘‘Ending Administrative 4 Garnishment Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUSPENSION OF WAGE GARNISHMENT. 6 Section 488A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 7 (20 U.S.C. 1095a) is amended by adding at the end the 8 following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 5023 IS ‘‘(f) SUSPENSION OF AUTHORITY.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of 2 enactment of the Ending Administrative Garnish- 3 ment Act of 2020, the authority provided under sub- 4 section (a) to garnish the disposable pay of an indi- 5 vidual shall be suspended until the date the Sec- 6 retary submits to the Committee on Health, Edu- 7 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the 8 Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 9 Representatives the certification described in para- 10 graph (2). 11 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—Not earlier than 1 year 12 after the date of enactment of the Ending Adminis- 13 trative Garnishment Act of 2020, the Secretary shall 14 submit to the Committee on Health, Education, 15 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Com- 16 mittee on Education and Labor of the House of 17 Representatives a certification that either— 18 ‘‘(A) the Secretary has implemented a 19 process through which— 20 ‘‘(i) individuals who have had their 21 disposable pay improperly garnished in vio- 22 lation of this section, or of any other in- 23 struction by the Secretary, are able to have 24 their refund processed and returned to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 5023 IS them not later than one calendar week 1 after the date of such violation; 2 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary can independently 3 cease or suspend the administrative wage 4 garnishment program authorized under 5 this section at any time, at the sole discre- 6 tion of the Secretary, including suspension 7 of the garnishment of any individual stu- 8 dent loan borrower or a cohort of bor- 9 rowers; and 10 ‘‘(iii) the Secretary obtains a quar- 11 terly verification from each employer 12 through which garnishment is carried out 13 under this section that all information nec- 14 essary to implement garnishment under 15 this section with respect to an individual 16 employee is accurate, including an estimate 17 of the amount scheduled to be garnished in 18 the subsequent quarter, and the name, ad- 19 dress, phone number, and email address 20 for both the employee and the employer; or 21 ‘‘(B) the Secretary is unable to implement 22 the process described in subparagraph (A) and 23 has determined that the garnishment of the dis- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 5023 IS posable pay shall not apply to individuals as au- 1 thorized under subsection (a). 2 ‘‘(3) DATA COLLECTION.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary sub- 4 mits a certification under paragraph (2) that 5 the Secretary has implemented the process de- 6 scribed in paragraph (2)(A), the Secretary, 7 upon submission of such certification, shall es- 8 tablish a centralized database containing— 9 ‘‘(i) the addresses, occupations, em- 10 ployers, and other collectible demographic 11 data of individuals whose disposable pay 12 was subject to garnishment under this sec- 13 tion on the day before the date of enact- 14 ment of the Ending Administrative Gar- 15 nishment Act of 2020; and 16 ‘‘(ii) the addresses, occupations, em- 17 ployers, and other collectible demographic 18 data of individuals whose disposable pay is 19 subject to garnishment under subsection 20 (a). 21 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 22 after the date the Secretary establishes the 23 database under subparagraph (A), and not less 24 often than annually thereafter, the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 5023 IS shall submit a report to the Committee on 1 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 2 Senate and the Committee on Education and 3 Labor of the House of Representatives summa- 4 rizing the information contained in the database 5 and evaluating the exercise of the Secretary’s 6 authority under subsection (a). 7 ‘‘(g) RIGHT OF ACTION AGAINST EMPLOYER.—The 8 employer shall be liable for, and the Secretary, the guar- 9 anty agency, or an individual, as appropriate, may sue the 10 employer in a State or Federal court of competent juris- 11 diction to recover, any amount that such employer improp- 12 erly withholds from wages due an employee following re- 13 ceipt by such employer of notice of suspension or revoca- 14 tion of the withholding order, and actual damages, plus 15 attorneys’ fees, costs, and, in the court’s discretion, puni- 16 tive damages. 17 ‘‘(h) DEPARTMENT ACTION AFTER IMPROPER GAR- 18 NISHMENT.—Not later than 10 days after the date the 19 Secretary receives an individual’s disposable pay that has 20 been improperly garnished, the Secretary shall pay the 21 borrower twice the actual amount of wages garnished. 22 Notwithstanding section 432(a)(2), an injunction against 23 the Secretary may be issued to enforce this subsection. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 5023 IS ‘‘(i) LIMITS ON USE.—The Secretary may not gar- 1 nish the disposable pay of an individual under this section 2 with respect to a loan that has been outstanding for more 3 than 10 years.’’. 4 SEC. 3. PARITY WITH INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT. 5 Section 488A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 6 (20 U.S.C. 1095a) is amended by striking subsection 7 (a)(1) and inserting: 8 ‘‘(1)(A) PARITY WITH INCOME-DRIVEN REPAY- 9 MENT.—The amount deducted in any calendar 10 month shall not exceed the amount that a similarly- 11 situated individual would be required to make for 12 such month under the income-driven repayment plan 13 that offers the lowest monthly payment. 14 ‘‘(B) INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT DEFINED.— 15 In this subsection, the term ‘income-driven repay- 16 ment’ means— 17 ‘‘(i) income-based repayment authorized 18 under section 493C for loans made, insured, or 19 guaranteed under part B or part D; or 20 ‘‘(ii) income contingent repayment author- 21 ized under section 455(e), for loans made under 22 part D. 23 ‘‘(C) SIMILARLY-SITUATED INDIVIDUAL DE- 24 FINED.—With respect to an individual, the term 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 5023 IS ‘similarly situated individual’ means another indi- 1 vidual with an eligible loan who would be eligible to 2 enroll in income-driven repayment and has the same 3 income and family size characteristics.’’. 4 SEC. 4. COLLECTION AND COMPROMISE. 5 Section 3711 of title 31, United States Code, is 6 amended by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(j) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE UNITED 8 STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 10 shall permit the Secretary of Education to exercise 11 any authority under this section without first satis- 12 fying the requirements established under section 13 488A(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 14 U.S.C. 1095a(f)). 15 ‘‘(2) PARITY WITH INCOME-DRIVEN REPAY- 16 MENT.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 18 other provision of law, for any debts owed to 19 the Department of Education or insured by the 20 Department of Education, the total amount col- 21 lected under this section shall not exceed the 22 amount that a similarly situated individual 23 would be required to make for such month 24 under the income-driven repayment plan that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 5023 IS offers the lowest monthly payment, or by year 1 in the case of a tax refund offset. 2 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 3 ‘‘(i) INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT.— 4 The term ‘income-driven repayment’ 5 means— 6 ‘‘(I) income-based repayment au- 7 thorized under section 493C of the 8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 9 U.S.C. 1098e) for loans made, in- 10 sured, or guaranteed under part B or 11 part D of title IV of such Act; or 12 ‘‘(II) income contingent repay- 13 ment authorized under section 455(e) 14 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1087e(e)), for 15 loans made under part D of title IV 16 of such Act. 17 ‘‘(ii) SIMILARLY SITUATED INDI- 18 VIDUAL.—With respect to an individual, 19 the term ‘similarly situated individual’ 20 means another individual with an eligible 21 loan who would be eligible to enroll in in- 22 come-driven repayment and has the same 23 income and family size characteristics. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 5023 IS ‘‘(3) LIMITS ON USE.—The Secretary of Edu- 1 cation shall not collect on a debt under the authority 2 under this section of an individual with respect to a 3 loan that has been outstanding for more than 10 4 years.’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S5023.IS S5023 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS