[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2594 Received in Senate (RDS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2594


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 19, 1996

                                Received

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To amend the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act to reduce the waiting 
  period for benefits payable under that Act, 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 ``Railroad Unemployment Insurance 
Amendments Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. WAITING PERIOD FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

    Subparagraph (A) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad Unemployment 
Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(1)(A)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(A) Payment of Unemployment Benefits.--
            ``(i) Generally.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
        subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified 
        employee for each day of unemployment in excess of 4 during any 
        registration period within a period of continuing unemployment.
            ``(ii) Waiting period for first registration period.-- 
        Benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee for each 
        day of unemployment in excess of 7 during that employee's first 
        registration period in a period of continuing unemployment if 
        such period of continuing unemployment is the employee's 
        initial period of continuing unemployment commencing in the 
        benefit year.
            ``(iii) Strikes.--
                    ``(I) Initial 14-day waiting period.--If the Board 
                finds that a qualified employee has a period of 
                continuing unemployment that includes days of 
                unemployment due to a stoppage of work because of a 
                strike in the establishment, premises, or enterprise at 
                which such employee was last employed, no benefits 
                shall be payable for such employee's first 14 days of 
                unemployment due to such stoppage of work.
                    ``(II) Subsequent days of unemployment.--For 
                subsequent days of unemployment due to the same 
                stoppage of work, benefits shall be payable as provided 
                in clause (i) of this subparagraph.
                    ``(III) Subsequent periods of continuing 
                unemployment.--If such period of continuing 
                unemployment ends by reason of clause (v) but the 
                stoppage of work continues, the waiting period 
                established in clause (ii) shall apply to the 
                employee's first registration period in a new period of 
                continuing unemployment based upon the same stoppage of 
                work.
            ``(iv) Definition of period of continuing unemployment.--
        Except as limited by clause (v), for the purposes of this 
        subparagraph, the term `period of continuing unemployment' 
        means--
                    ``(I) a single registration period that includes 
                more than 4 days of unemployment;
                    ``(II) a series of consecutive registration 
                periods, each of which includes more than 4 days of 
                unemployment; or
                    ``(III) a series of successive registration 
                periods, each of which includes more than 4 days of 
                unemployment, if each succeeding registration period 
                begins within 15 days after the last day of the 
                immediately preceding registration period.
            ``(v) Special rule regarding end of period.--For purposes 
        of applying clause (ii), a period of continuing unemployment 
        ends when an employee exhausts rights to unemployment benefits 
        under subsection (c) of this section.
            ``(vi) Limit on amount of benefits.--No benefits shall be 
        payable to an otherwise eligible employee for any day of 
        unemployment in a registration period where the total amount of 
        the remuneration (as defined in section 1(j)) payable or 
        accruing to him for days within such registration period 
        exceeds the amount of the base year monthly compensation base. 
        For purposes of the preceding sentence, an employee's 
        remuneration shall be deemed to include the gross amount of any 
        remuneration that would have become payable to that employee 
        but did not become payable because that employee was not ready 
        or willing to perform suitable work available to that employee 
        on any day within such registration period.''.

SEC. 3. WAITING PERIOD FOR SICKNESS BENEFITS.

    Subparagraph (B) of section 2(a)(1) of the Railroad Unemployment 
Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(1)(B)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(B) Payment of Sickness Benefits.--
            ``(i) Generally.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
        subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified 
        employee for each day of sickness after the 4th consecutive day 
        of sickness in a period of continuing sickness but excluding 4 
        days of sickness in any registration period in such period of 
        continuing sickness.
            ``(ii) Waiting period for first registration period.--
        Benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee for each 
        day of sickness in excess of 7 during that employee's first 
        registration period in a period of continuing sickness if such 
        period of continuing sickness is the employee's initial period 
        of continuing sickness commencing in the benefit year. For the 
        purposes of this clause, the first registration period in a 
        period of continuing sickness is that registration period that 
        first begins with 4 consecutive days of sickness and includes 
        more than 4 days of sickness.
            ``(iii) Definition of period of continuing sickness.--For 
        the purposes of this subparagraph, a period of continuing 
        sickness means--
                    ``(I) a period of consecutive days of sickness, 
                whether from 1 or more causes; or
                    ``(II) a period of successive days of sickness due 
                to a single cause without interruption of more than 90 
                consecutive days which are not days of sickness.
            ``(iv) Special rule regarding end of period.--For purposes 
        of applying clause (ii), a period of continuing sickness ends 
        when an employee exhausts rights to sickness benefits under 
        subsection (c) of this section.''.

SEC. 4. MAXIMUM DAILY BENEFIT RATE.

    Paragraph (3) of section 2(a) of the Railroad Unemployment 
Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(a)(3)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(3) The maximum daily benefit rate computed by the Board under 
section 12(r)(2) shall be the product of the monthly compensation base, 
as computed under section 1(i)(2) for the base year immediately 
preceding the beginning of the benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. 
If the maximum daily benefit rate so computed is not a multiple of $1, 
it shall be rounded down to the nearest multiple of $1.''.

SEC. 5. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS FOR BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (c) of section 2 of the Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(c)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(c) Maximum Number of Days for Benefits.--
            ``(1) Normal benefits.--
                    ``(A) Generally.--The maximum number of days of 
                unemployment within a benefit year for which benefits 
                may be paid to an employee shall be 130, and the 
                maximum number of days of sickness within a benefit 
                year for which benefits may be paid to an employee 
                shall be 130.
                    ``(B) Limitation.--The total amount of benefits 
                that may be paid to an employee for days of 
                unemployment within a benefit year shall in no case 
                exceed the employee's compensation in the base year; 
                and the total amount of benefits that may be paid to an 
                employee for days of sickness within a benefit year 
                shall in no case exceed the employee's compensation in 
                the base year, except that notwithstanding section 
                1(i), in determining the employee's compensation in the 
                base year for the purpose of this sentence, any money 
                remuneration paid to the employee for services rendered 
                as an employee shall be taken into account that is not 
                in excess of an amount that bears the same ratio to 
                $775 as the monthly compensation base for that year as 
                computed under section 1(i) bears to $600.
            ``(2) Extended benefits.--
                    ``(A) Generally.--With respect to an employee who 
                has 10 or more years of service as defined in section 
                1(f) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, who did 
                not voluntarily retire and (in a case involving 
                exhaustion of rights to normal benefits for days of 
                unemployment) did not voluntarily leave work without 
                good cause, and who had current rights to normal 
                benefits for days of unemployment or days of sickness 
                in a benefit year but has exhausted such rights, the 
                benefit year in which such rights are exhausted shall 
                be deemed not to be ended until the last day of the 
                extended benefit period determined under this 
                paragraph, and extended unemployment benefits or 
                extended sickness benefits (depending on the type of 
                normal benefit rights exhausted) may be paid for not 
                more than 65 days of unemployment or 65 days of 
                sickness within such extended benefit period.
                    ``(B) Beginning date.--An employee's extended 
                benefit period shall begin on the employee's first day 
                of unemployment or first day of sickness, as the case 
                may be, following the day on which the employee 
                exhausts the employee's then current rights to normal 
                benefits for days of unemployment or days of sickness 
                and shall continue for 7 consecutive 14-day periods, 
                each of which shall constitute a registration period, 
                but no such extended benefit period shall extend beyond 
                the beginning of the first registration period in a 
                benefit year in which the employee is again qualified 
                for benefits in accordance with section 3 on the basis 
                of compensation earned after the first of such 
                consecutive 14-day periods has begun.
                    ``(C) Termination when employee reaches age of 
                65.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
                paragraph, an extended benefit period for sickness 
                benefits shall terminate on the day next preceding the 
                date on which the employee attains age 65, except that 
                it may continue for the purpose of paying benefits for 
                days of unemployment.
            ``(3) Accelerated benefits.--
                    ``(A) General rule.--With respect to an employee 
                who has 10 or more years of service as defined in 
                section 1(f) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, 
                who did not voluntarily retire, and (in a case 
                involving unemployment benefits) did not voluntarily 
                leave work without good cause, who has 14 or more 
                consecutive days of unemployment, or 14 or more 
                consecutive days of sickness, and who is not a 
                qualified employee with respect to the general benefit 
                year current when such unemployment or sickness 
                commences but is or becomes a qualified employee for 
                the next succeeding general benefit year, such 
                succeeding general benefit year shall, in that 
                employee's case, begin on the first day of the month in 
                which such unemployment or sickness commences.
                    ``(B) Exception.--In the case of a succeeding 
                benefit year beginning in accordance with subparagraph 
                (A) by reason of sickness, such sentence shall not 
                operate to permit the payment of benefits in the period 
                provided for in such sentence for any day of sickness 
                beginning with the date on which the employee attains 
                age 65, and continuing through the day preceding the 
                first day of the next succeeding general benefit year.
                    ``(C) Determination of age.--For the purposes of 
                this subsection, the Board may rely on evidence of age 
                available in its records and files at the time 
                determinations of age are made.''.
    (b) Repeal of Deadwood Provision.--Section 2(h) of the Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(h)) is repealed.
    (c) Repeal of Expired Provision.--Section 17 of the Railroad 
Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 368), relating to payment of 
supplemental unemployment benefits, is repealed.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 18, 1996.

            Attest:

                                                ROBIN H. CARLE,

                                                                 Clerk.