[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3523 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3523
To provide for the temporary funding of the expansion of eligibility of
unemployment compensation to respond to the COVID-19 public health
emergency, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 18, 2020
Mr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the temporary funding of the expansion of eligibility of
unemployment compensation to respond to the COVID-19 public health
emergency, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Coronavirus Unemployment Insurance
Expansion Act''.
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY FUNDING OF THE EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY OF
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.
(a) Federal-State Agreements.--Any State which desires to do so may
enter into and participate in an agreement under this section with the
Secretary of Labor (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'').
Any State which is a party to an agreement under this title may, upon
providing 30 days' written notice to the Secretary, terminate such
agreement.
(b) Provisions of Agreement.--Any agreement under subsection (a)
shall provide that the State agency of the State will make payments of
regular compensation in cases where--
(1) an individual's employer temporarily ceases operations
due to the COVID-19 emergency;
(2) an individual is quarantined with the expectation of
returning to work and is not receiving pay due to the COVID-19
emergency; and
(3) an individual must stop receiving pay in order to care
for family members or dependents due to the COVID-19 emergency.
(c) Payments to States.--
(1) Full reimbursement.--There shall be paid to each State
which has entered into an agreement under this section an
amount equal to 100 percent of--
(A) the total amount of regular compensation paid
to individuals by the State by reason of such
agreement; and
(B) any additional administrative expenses incurred
by the State by reason of such agreement (as determined
by the Secretary).
(2) Terms of payments.--Sums payable to any State by reason
of such State's having an agreement under this section shall be
payable, either in advance or by way of reimbursement (as
determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Secretary
estimates the State will be entitled to receive under this
section for each calendar month, reduced or increased, as the
case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary finds that
his estimates for any prior calendar month were greater or less
than the amounts which should have been paid to the State. Such
estimates may be made on the basis of such statistical,
sampling, or other method as may be agreed upon by the
Secretary and the State agency of the State involved.
(d) Funding.--
(1) Compensation.--
(A) In general.--Funds in the Federal unemployment
account (as established by section 905(g)) of the
Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by section
904(a)) shall be used to make payments under subsection
(c)(1)(A).
(B) Transfer of funds.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall
transfer from the general fund of the Treasury (from
funds not otherwise appropriated) to the Federal
unemployment account such sums as the Secretary of
Labor estimates to be necessary to make payments
described in subparagraph (A). There are appropriated
from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal
year limitation, the sums referred to in the preceding
sentence and such sums shall not be required to be
repaid.
(2) Administrative expenses.--
(A) In general.--Funds in the employment security
administration account (as established by section
901(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1105(a)))
of the Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by
section 904(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1104(a))) shall
be used to make payments to States and Indian Tribes
pursuant to subsection (c)(1)(B).
(B) Transfer of funds.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall
transfer from the general fund of the Treasury (from
funds not otherwise appropriated) to the employment
security administration account such sums as the
Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to make
payments described in subparagraph (A). There are
appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury,
without fiscal year limitation, the sums referred to in
the preceding sentence and such sums shall not be
required to be repaid.
(3) Certifications.--The Secretary shall from time to time
certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment to each
State the sums payable to such State under this section.
(e) Applicability.--An agreement entered into under this section
shall apply to weeks of unemployment--
(1) beginning after the date on which such agreement is
entered into; and
(2) ending on or before the earlier of--
(A) the date of the termination of the national
emergency declared by the President under the National
Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) with respect
to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19); or
(B) December 31, 2020.
(f) Fraud and Overpayments.--The provisions of section 4005 of the
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 122 Stat.
2356) shall apply with respect to compensation paid under an agreement
under this section to the same extent and in the same manner as in the
case of emergency unemployment compensation under title IV of such Act.
(g) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms ``regular
compensation'', ``State'', ``State agency'', ``State law'', and
``week'' have the respective meanings given such terms under section
205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970
(26 U.S.C. 3304 note).
SEC. 3. EMERGENCY FLEXIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT LAWS.
Notwithstanding any other law, if a State modifies its unemployment
compensation law and policies (including with respect to work search,
waiting week, good cause, and employer experience rating) on an
emergency temporary basis as needed to respond to the spread of COVID-
19, such modifications shall be disregarded for the purposes of
applying section 303 of the Social Security Act and section 3304 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to such State law.
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