[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1789 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1789

    To make permanent certain authority relating to self-employment 
              assistance programs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 8, 1995

Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Houghton) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To make permanent certain authority relating to self-employment 
              assistance programs, 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. SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 507(e) of the North 
American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (26 U.S.C. 3306 note) 
is hereby repealed.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Subsection (e) of section 507 of such 
Act is further amended--
            (1) by amending the heading after the subsection 
        designation to read ``Effective Date.--''; and
            (2) by striking ``(1) Effective date.--'' and by running in 
        the remaining text of subsection (e) immediately after the 
        heading therefor, as amended by paragraph (1).

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION PROGRAMS.

    (a) General Rule.--Section 3306 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(u) Short-Time Compensation Program.--For purposes of this 
chapter, the term `short-time compensation program' means a program 
under which--
            ``(1) the participation of an employer is voluntary;
            ``(2) an employer reduces the number of hours worked by 
        employees in lieu of temporary layoffs;
            ``(3) such employees whose workweeks have been reduced by 
        at least 10 percent are eligible for unemployment compensation;
            ``(4) the amount of unemployment compensation payable to 
        any such employee is a pro rata portion of the unemployment 
        compensation which would be payable to the employee if such 
        employee were totally unemployed;
            ``(5) such employees are not required to meet the 
        availability for work or work search test requirements while 
        collecting short-time compensation benefits, but are required 
        to be available for their normal workweek;
            ``(6) eligible employees may participate in an employer-
        sponsored training program to enhance jobs skills if such 
        program has been approved by the State agency;
            ``(7) the State agency may require an employer to continue 
        to provide health benefits, and retirement benefits under a 
        defined benefit plan (as defined in section 3(35) of the 
        Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), to any 
        employee whose workweek is reduced pursuant to the program as 
        though the workweek of such employee had not been reduced;
            ``(8) the State agency may require an employer (or an 
        employers' association which is party to a collective 
        bargaining agreement) to submit a written plan describing the 
        manner in which the requirements of this subsection will be 
        implemented and containing such other information as the 
        Secretary of Labor determines is appropriate; and
            ``(9) the program meets such other requirements as the 
        Secretary of Labor determines are appropriate.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Subparagraph (E) of section 3304(a)(4) of such Code is 
        amended to read as follows:
                    ``(E) amounts may be withdrawn for the payment of 
                short-time compensation under a short-time compensation 
                program (as defined in section 3306(u));''.
            (2) Paragraph (4) of section 3306(f) of such Code is 
        amended to read as follows:
            ``(4) amounts may be withdrawn for the payment of short-
        time compensation under a short-time compensation program (as 
        defined in subsection (u));''.
            (3) Section 303(a)(5) of the Social Security Act is amended 
        by striking ``the payment of short-time compensation under a 
        plan approved by the Secretary of Labor'' and inserting ``the 
        payment of short-time compensation under a short-time 
        compensation program (as defined in section 3306(u) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986)''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall take effect on 
the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>