Support Our Election Workers Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1609 To direct the Election Assistance Commission to establish a program to make grants to States to provide increased pay for election workers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 16, 2023 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. WELCH, Mr. BROWN, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To direct the Election Assistance Commission to establish a program to make grants to States to provide increased pay for election workers, 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 ‘‘Support Our Election 4 Workers Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1609.IS S1609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1609 IS SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR GRANTS TO SUPPORT ELECTION 1 WORKERS. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Subtitle D of 3 title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 4 21001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘PART 7— PAYMENTS TO HELP SUPPORT 7 ELECTION WORKERS 8 ‘‘SEC. 297. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF GRANT 9 PROGRAM. 10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall establish 11 and operate a program under which the Commission shall 12 make payments to eligible States for providing increased 13 pay for election workers, including individuals serving as 14 election officials or poll workers on a temporary or unpaid 15 basis. 16 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 17 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.—The amount of a payment 18 made to a State under the program established 19 under this part shall be equal to the greater of— 20 ‘‘(A) the reasonable costs the State expects 21 to incur in providing increased pay for election 22 workers, as determined by the Commission tak- 23 ing into account the information provided by 24 the State in the plan described in section 297A; 25 or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1609.IS S1609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1609 IS ‘‘(B) the minimum payment amount de- 1 scribed in paragraph (2) with respect to the fis- 2 cal year. 3 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM PAYMENT AMOUNT.—The min- 4 imum payment amount described in this paragraph 5 with respect to a fiscal year is equal to one-half of 6 1 percent of the aggregate amount made available 7 during the fiscal year for payments under the pro- 8 gram established under this part. 9 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—In order to be eligible to receive 10 a payment under the program established under this part, 11 a State shall submit to the Commission, at such time and 12 in such form as the Commission may require, an applica- 13 tion containing a description of a plan for how the State 14 will use the payment to provide increased pay to election 15 workers, as described in section 297A, together with such 16 other information and assurances as the Commission may 17 require. 18 ‘‘(d) REPORTS.—A State receiving a payment under 19 the program established under this part shall submit to 20 the Commission such reports on the State’s use of the pay- 21 ment as the Commission may require. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1609.IS S1609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1609 IS ‘‘SEC. 297A. STATE PLAN FOR PROVIDING INCREASED PAY 1 TO ELECTION WORKERS. 2 ‘‘(a) ELEMENTS OF PLAN.—A State’s plan for pro- 3 viding increased pay to election workers shall include the 4 following elements: 5 ‘‘(1) A description of how the State will use in- 6 creased pay to retain qualified election workers and 7 to recruit new election workers. 8 ‘‘(2) The requirements an individual must meet 9 in order to be eligible to receive increased pay under 10 the plan. 11 ‘‘(3) The amount of the reasonable costs the 12 State expects to incur in providing increased pay for 13 such eligible individuals. 14 ‘‘(4) The procedures for carrying out the plan, 15 including the extent to which State and local election 16 officials will be responsible for carrying out the plan. 17 ‘‘(b) OPPORTUNITY OF ALL ELECTION WORKERS TO 18 RECEIVE PAY.—Under the State’s plan, the State may 19 not treat an election worker as ineligible to receive in- 20 creased pay solely because the individual does not interact 21 directly with voters, individuals attempting to vote, or in- 22 dividuals attempting to register to vote. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1609.IS S1609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1609 IS ‘‘SEC. 297B. COVERAGE OF COMMONWEALTH OF NORTH- 1 ERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 2 ‘‘In this part, the Commonwealth of the Northern 3 Mariana Islands shall be considered a State. 4 ‘‘SEC. 297C. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 5 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated for pay- 6 ments under this part such sums as may be necessary for 7 fiscal year 2024 and each succeeding fiscal year.’’. 8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 9 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 10 relating to subtitle D of title II the following: 11 ‘‘PART 7— PAYMENTS TO HELP SUPPORT ELECTION WORKERS ‘‘Sec. 297. Establishment and operation of grant program. ‘‘Sec. 297A. State plan for providing increased pay to election workers. ‘‘Sec. 297B. Coverage of Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. ‘‘Sec. 297C. Authorization of appropriations.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1609.IS S1609 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS