[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2370 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2370

     To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that no 
  individual shall be denied unemployment compensation solely on the 
   basis of leaving employment due to a reasonable fear of domestic 
                               violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 29, 1999

  Mr. Doggett (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Frost, Ms. Eddie Bernice 
 Johnson of Texas, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Ms. Rivers, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. 
    Hooley of Oregon, Ms. McCarthy of Missouri, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. 
    Thurman, Mr. Bonior, Mrs. Meek of Florida, Ms. Carson, and Mrs. 
McCarthy of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that no 
  individual shall be denied unemployment compensation solely on the 
   basis of leaving employment due to a reasonable fear of domestic 
                               violence.

    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 ``Domestic Violence Employment 
Security Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. REASONABLE FEAR OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS GOOD CAUSE FOR LEAVING 
              EMPLOYMENT.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 3304 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to approval of State unemployment 
compensation laws) is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of 
paragraph (18), by redesignating paragraph (19) as paragraph (20), and 
by inserting after paragraph (18) the following new paragraph:
            ``(19)(A) no individual shall be denied compensation under 
        such State law solely on the basis of leaving employment due to 
        reasonable fear of domestic violence, and
            ``(B) in making a determination under subparagraph (A) as 
        to the reasonableness of an individual's fear, the State shall 
        consider such factors as it considers appropriate, such as--
                    ``(i) whether there were any alternatives available 
                to the individual besides leaving such individual's 
                employment, and
                    ``(ii) whether such individual was advised by a law 
                enforcement officer or health care professional to 
                leave such individual's employment; and''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 3306 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(u) Law Enforcement Officer and Health-Care Professional.--For 
purposes of section 3304(a)(19)--
            ``(1) Law enforcement officer.--The term `law enforcement 
        officer' means an officer of the United States, a State, or a 
        political subdivision of a State, who is empowered by law to 
        conduct investigations of, or make arrests because of, offenses 
        against the United States, a State, or a political subdivision 
        of a State.
            ``(2) Health-care professional.--The term `health-care 
        professional' means a physician, a clinical psychologist, and 
        any other person providing direct patient care, as determined 
        by the Secretary of Labor.''.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be considered 
to affect any requirements relating to availability for work, active 
search for work, or refusal to accept work.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply in the case of unemployment compensation paid for weeks beginning 
after the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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