[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1458 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1458
To modernize the technology for delivering unemployment compensation,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 1, 2021
Mr. Horsford (for himself, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms.
Bonamici, Ms. Bourdeaux, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Cooper, Mr. DeFazio, Mr.
Evans, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Keating, Mrs. Lee of Nevada,
Mr. Lieu, Ms. Norton, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Titus, Mrs. Watson Coleman, and
Ms. Williams of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To modernize the technology for delivering unemployment compensation,
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 ``Unemployment Insurance Technology
Modernization Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR DELIVERING UNEMPLOYMENT
COMPENSATION.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the date of
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall develop,
operate, and maintain a modular set of technology capabilities
to modernize the delivery of unemployment compensation (in this
section referred to as the ``technology capabilities'').
(2) Purposes.--The purposes of developing the technology
capabilities are the following:
(A) For such capabilities to be utilized for any
Federal administrative function associated with the
provision of unemployment compensation.
(B) To provide States with modular, open system
technology capabilities and shared services to
administer their unemployment compensation programs.
(3) Consultation.--In developing, operating, and
maintaining the technology capabilities under paragraph (1),
the Secretary shall--
(A) coordinate with the Administrator; and
(B) consult, design, and conduct usability testing
with--
(i) current and former claimants;
(ii) employers that participate in
unemployment compensation programs;
(iii) employees of State workforce
agencies;
(iv) experts in technology and user
experience;
(v) Federal administrators of unemployment
compensation;
(vi) any other potential user of the
technology capabilities; and
(vii) subject matter experts as deemed
appropriate by the Secretary.
(b) Requirements.--
(1) In general.--The technology capabilities shall--
(A) incorporate a modular open systems approach and
include modular components for each function necessary
to administer an unemployment compensation program,
including--
(i) receiving, processing, and paying
claims for unemployment compensation, including
disaster benefits;
(ii) online claim filing;
(iii) the determination of claimant
eligibility;
(iv) the collection of unemployment taxes;
(v) the submission of employer wage
records;
(vi) the appeals and adjudication processes
for claimants and employers;
(vii) sharing relevant data among States
and the Secretary; and
(viii) any other functionality that
addresses the issues and goals identified
during the pre-development study described in
subsection (c)(1);
(B) comply with best practices and standards for
privacy and cybersecurity, including digital identity
proofing services, identified in consultation with the
Director of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) and the Director of the Cybersecurity
and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA);
(C) prioritize end-to-end user experience for
claimants, employers, and administrators of
unemployment compensation programs;
(D) include centralized Federal technology
capabilities that allow for the storage, exposure, and
exchange of data required by States to administer their
unemployment compensation programs (with the respective
States retaining possession of such data without regard
to the storage, exposure, or exchange of such data in
the Federal technology capabilities);
(E) provide States with the option to use only some
of the modular components of the Federal technology
capabilities while continuing to utilize State
technology capabilities to store any data required to
administer their unemployment compensation program in a
State database, provided that the State database meets
any guidelines established by the Secretary that enable
machine-to-machine interfaces to facilitate
communication among States and between such State and
the Federal Government;
(F) allow States to easily adapt the modular
components of the Federal technology capabilities to
meet the requirements of their unique unemployment
compensation programs;
(G) ensure the timely and accurate payment of
benefits, including measures to minimize susceptibility
to attacks by organized criminal networks seeking to
defraud State or Federal unemployment compensation
programs; and
(H) to the extent practicable, be made available
(along with any associated data produced under this
section) to support other interagency and
intergovernmental activities as appropriate.
(2) Accessibility requirements for online claim filing.--
With respect to the online claim filing component described in
paragraph (1)(A)(ii), such component shall--
(A) ensure that the process of filing initial and
continuing claims for unemployment compensation can be
readily understood and accomplished by the vast
majority of claimants, including individuals with
limited English proficiency, individuals with
disabilities (in compliance with section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d)), older
individuals, and individuals with literacy challenges;
(B) be available in any language spoken by more
than 1 percent of the national population or any
State's population (with such translations completed by
human translators rather than translation software) and
comply with the requirements of the Plain Writing Act
of 2010 (5 U.S.C. 301 note);
(C) be accessible and optimized for all commonly
used desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices and
operating systems such that any features of the online
claim filing component (such as the ability to upload
documentation) that are available in the desktop
version of the online claim filing component are also
available in the tablet and mobile versions;
(D) allow for electronic submission of
documentation required to support a claim, including
the ability of claimants to scan or photograph and
submit documentation using a tablet or mobile device;
(E) be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
with the exception of scheduled and emergency
maintenance that the State conducts, to the extent
practicable, at nonpeak hours;
(F) provide self-service account recovery that can
be completed online; and
(G) deploy multiple methods of communication with
claimants, such as short message service (SMS) message,
email, postal mail, live chat, or chatbots.
(3) Requirements regarding high-risk automated decision
systems.--
(A) In general.--The technology capabilities shall
not rely solely on a high-risk automated decision
system to deny a claim for unemployment compensation,
reduce the amount of unemployment compensation for
which a claimant is eligible, or deny the right of a
claimant to appeal an unemployment compensation
decision.
(B) Partial reliance.--
(i) In general.--If any of the technology
capabilities rely on a high-risk automated
decision system to determine that a claimant is
ineligible for unemployment compensation, to
reduce the amount of unemployment compensation
for which a claimant is eligible, or to deny
the right of a claimant to appeal an
unemployment compensation decision, the
Secretary shall--
(I) require that an employee of a
State workforce agency review the
determination before--
(aa) the claim for
unemployment compensation of
such claimant may be denied;
(bb) the amount of
unemployment compensation for
which such claimant is eligible
may be reduced; or
(cc) the right of such
claimant to appeal an
unemployment compensation
decision may be denied;
(II) consult with experts in the
Federal Government (including the
Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology and the
Director of the National Science
Foundation), regarding the potential
benefits and risks of partial reliance
on a high-risk automated decision
system;
(III) prior to utilizing such part
of the technology capabilities that
relies on a high-risk automated
decision system--
(aa) establish clear
methods to measure the accuracy
of such part of the technology
capabilities; and
(bb) ensure that such part
of the technology capabilities
minimizes the occurrence of
biased results based on race,
gender, ethnicity, disability
status, income, occupation, or
other personal characteristics
as determined by the Secretary,
and prevents any increase in
such bias;
(IV) develop algorithmic impact
assessments, incorporating public
feedback and expert agency review, to
proactively assess the necessity of
additional formal policies and
safeguards to mitigate risks; and
(V) establish transparency
requirements that include an annual
public disclosure of any use of a high-
risk automated decision system, a plain
language explanation of the decision
making structure of such high-risk
automated decision system, and the
details regarding such use and related
outcomes.
(ii) Training.--The Secretary shall
establish best practices for training any
relevant employee of the Department or a State
workforce agency to reduce the impact of
automation bias.
(C) Monitoring.--The Secretary shall continuously
monitor claim determinations that rely, in part, on the
use of a high-risk automated decision system to ensure
that biased results based on the characteristics
described in subparagraph (B)(i)(III)(bb) do not occur.
(c) Pre-Development Study and Report.--
(1) Study.--Prior to the development of the technology
capabilities under subsection (a) or the procurement of such
technology capabilities under subsection (g), the Secretary, in
coordination with the Administrator, shall conduct a study
assessing the technology needs of Federal and State
unemployment compensation programs. Such study shall consider
the following:
(A) The Federal and State capabilities that need to
be upgraded or replaced to ensure the smooth
administration of their respective unemployment
compensation programs.
(B) How to design and develop a federally
maintained system that serves the needs of both the
Federal Government and each of the State unemployment
compensation programs.
(C) The features necessary to effectively respond
to rapid changes in volume in times of emergency,
including features that enable easy adaptation of, and
updates to, such technology capabilities in order to
implement new rules or benefits.
(D) The features necessary to ensure the technology
capabilities have the capacity to handle an increased
number of claims during periods of high unemployment.
(E) How the technology capabilities can prioritize
claimant experience and ensure accessibility, including
by soliciting feedback from claimants and claimant
representatives during the development process.
(F) How the technology capabilities can ensure
effective and equitable benefit delivery, including the
following:
(i) The standardization of data collection
and reporting across States to facilitate
administration and interoperability.
(ii) The features that will facilitate
accurate and timely delivery of benefits and
reduce the time from successful unemployment
compensation claim to benefit delivery.
(iii) The features that will help to
identify and prevent organized fraud schemes
without causing unreasonable delays for
legitimate claimants or penalizing mistakes.
(iv) The appropriate level of ongoing audit
and analysis needed to evaluate the
effectiveness and equitability of benefit
delivery.
(v) How privacy-protective data exposure
and exchange between government entities and
privacy-protective public reporting could be
utilized to improve and ensure effective and
equitable benefit delivery.
(G) How the technology capabilities can improve the
employer experience, including tax payment, the
submission of wage information, and the verification of
claim information.
(H) How the technology capabilities can improve
processes for employees of State workforce agencies.
(I) The information security measures necessary to
protect claimants' personal data while enabling
auditing and research, including recommendations for
privacy-protective technologies, such as secure multi-
party computation, that can enable such auditing and
research in a manner that does not involve sharing data
on individual claimants.
(J) How the technology capabilities can improve
data sharing among States and the Federal Government
with respect to recipiency, benefit levels, timeliness,
and accuracy.
(K) How the technology capabilities can minimize
disparities in unemployment compensation recipiency by
race, gender, ethnicity, disability status, income, or
occupation, and prevent any increase in such
disparities.
(L) Potential approaches for development or
procurement of the technology capabilities, including,
for each approach presented, range estimates for
development, implementation, and operational costs, and
range estimates of capability delivery schedules.
(2) Report.--Not later than 4 months after the date of
enactment of this section, the Secretary, in coordination with
the Administrator, shall submit to Congress a report containing
the results of the study conducted under paragraph (1),
together with the Department's strategy for development and
procurement of the technology capabilities, including any
recommendations for such legislation and administrative action
as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(d) Digital Services Team.--
(1) Establishment.--The Secretary, in coordination with the
Administrator, shall establish in the Department a Digital
Services Team (in this section referred to as the ``Team'').
(2) Membership.--The Team shall include--
(A) technology experts;
(B) user experience experts;
(C) an experienced technical team leader with
experience in human-centered design and modern software
development practices; and
(D) any other member deemed appropriate by the
Secretary.
(3) Duties.--The Team shall carry out the following duties:
(A) Assist the Secretary in the development,
operation, and maintenance of the technology
capabilities under subsection (a).
(B) After the development and deployment of the
technology capabilities under subsection (a) is
complete, assist the Secretary in operating and
overseeing the maintenance and continued improvement of
the technology capabilities, including by providing
technological assistance--
(i) to State workforce agencies; and
(ii) to States seeking to adapt their State
databases to interface with the federally
provided modular and open systems technology
capabilities described in subsection (b)(1)(E).
(C) Ensure the Department has sufficient in-house
technical expertise and procurement support.
(D) Assist the Department with technology needs.
(E) Engage in such other activities deemed
appropriate by the Secretary.
(4) Staff and resources.--The Secretary shall ensure that
the Team has such staff, resources, and access to information
as may be necessary to carry out the duties of the Team.
(5) Digital services team funding.--Out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated to
the Secretary $5,000,000 to carry out this subsection. Amounts
appropriated under the preceding sentence shall remain
available until expended.
(e) Pilot Program.--Prior to the deployment of the technology
capabilities to all States, the Secretary shall select not fewer than 4
States to participate in a pilot program to test the technology
capabilities and demonstrate that such technology capabilities meet the
requirements and end-to-end user experience needs established by this
Act, including those identified in the pre-development study described
in subsection (c)(1).
(f) Data Sharing.--To enable the storage, exposure, and exchange of
data required by States to administer their unemployment compensation
programs, the Secretary shall--
(1) establish Computer Matching Agreements in accordance
with the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988
(5 U.S.C. 552a note) to obtain information necessary to verify
a claimant's eligibility for unemployment compensation;
(2) determine appropriate aggregate data to share on a
regular basis with the public through the Data.gov internet
website pursuant to the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policy
Making Act of 2018 (5 U.S.C. 101 note);
(3) establish appropriate controls and monitoring to make
available only the data necessary for States to administer
their unemployment compensation programs; and
(4) establish a data retention policy for retaining or
archiving historical unemployment compensation program data as
deemed appropriate.
(g) Procurement and Contracts With Private Vendors.--If the
Secretary contracts with a private vendor to procure or develop or
assist with the development of the technology capabilities under
subsection (a), the Secretary shall--
(1) ensure that any agreement with such private vendor
stipulates that the resulting technology capabilities and
associated research, applications, automated processes, and
associated metadata shall be the proprietary information of the
Federal Government;
(2) follow best practices for Government IT procurement to
de-risk projects; and
(3) provide funding based on program outcomes rather than
volume.
(h) Oversight.--
(1) Oversight.--During and after the development of the
technology capabilities under subsection (a), the Secretary
shall--
(A) respond to requests from Congress for updates
on the development of the technology capabilities; and
(B) participate in oversight hearings and
demonstrations of the technology capabilities as
requested by Congress.
(2) Publicly available status.--Not later than 6 months
after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary
shall establish and maintain publicly available content,
available on the internet website of the Department, that
provides the status of--
(A) the technology capabilities being developed
under this section;
(B) the metrics of success for such development;
(C) the results from piloting and testing of such
technology capabilities; and
(D) deployment of such technology capabilities in
each of the States and the Federal Government.
(i) Technology Capabilities Modernization Funding.--Out of any
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are
appropriated to the Secretary $500,000,000 to carry out this section
(other than subsection (d)). Amounts appropriated under the preceding
sentence shall remain available until expended.
(j) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the United States Digital Service.
(2) Automated decision system.--The term ``automated
decision system'' means a computational process, including one
derived from machine learning, statistics, or other data
processing or artificial intelligence techniques, that makes a
decision or facilitates human decision making that impacts
claimants.
(3) Automation bias.--The term ``automation bias'' means
the tendency for humans to over-rely on the recommendation of
an automated decision system, to place overconfidence in such
recommendation based on perceived superiority to analog or
human processes, or to ignore evidence that would indicate the
automated decision system has made an error.
(4) Claimant.--The term ``claimant'' means a claimant for
unemployment compensation.
(5) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Labor.
(6) High-risk automated decision system.--The term ``high-
risk automated decision system'' means an automated decision
system that--
(A) poses a significant risk--
(i) to the privacy or security of personal
information of claimants; or
(ii) of resulting in or contributing to
inaccurate, unfair, biased, or discriminatory
decisions impacting claimants;
(B) makes decisions, or facilitates human decision
making, based on systematic evaluations of current and
historical claimant data, including attempts to analyze
or predict sensitive aspects of claimants' lives or
characteristics or activities that may affect their
eligibility for unemployment compensation, such as
their reason for separation from employment,
availability for work, work search activities, work
performance, economic situation, health, personal
preferences, interests, behavior, location, or
movements, that--
(i) alter legal rights of the claimants; or
(ii) otherwise significantly impact the
claimants;
(C) involves the personal information of a
significant number of claimants regarding race, color,
national origin, political opinions, religion, trade
union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health,
gender, gender identity, sexuality, sexual orientation,
disability status, criminal convictions, or arrests; or
(D) meets any other criteria deemed appropriate by
the Secretary.
(7) Modular open systems approach.--The term ``modular open
systems approach'' means an integrated business and technical
strategy that--
(A) employs a modular design that uses system
interfaces between a system platform and a system
component, between system components, or between system
platforms;
(B) is subjected to verification to ensure system
interfaces comply with, if available and suitable,
widely supported and consensus-based standards; and
(C) uses a system architecture that allows
severable system platforms or components at the
appropriate level to be incrementally added, removed,
or replaced throughout the life cycle of a system
platform or component while yielding--
(i) significant cost savings or avoidance;
(ii) schedule reduction;
(iii) opportunities for technical upgrades;
(iv) increased interoperability; or
(v) other benefits during the sustainment
phase.
(8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Labor.
(9) Secure multi-party computation.--The term ``secure
multi-party computation'' means a computerized system that
enables different participating entities in possession of
private sets of data to link and aggregate their data sets for
the exclusive purpose of performing a finite number of pre-
approved computations without transferring or otherwise
revealing any private data to each other or anyone else.
(10) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.
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