[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3548 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3548

 To provide for the extension of premium assistance for COBRA benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 29, 2010

 Mr. Casey (for himself, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Levin, Mr. 
Whitehouse, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Franken, Mr. Burris, 
and Mr. Akaka) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the extension of premium assistance for COBRA benefits.

    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 ``Extend COBRA Premium Assistance 
Program Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF PREMIUM ASSISTANCE FOR COBRA 
              BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Extension of eligibility period.--Subsection (a)(3)(A) 
        of section 3001 of division B of the American Recovery and 
        Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), as amended by 
        section 3(a) of the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (Public 
        Law 111-157), is amended by striking ``May 31, 2010'' and 
        inserting ``November 30, 2010''.
            (2) Rules relating to 2010 extension.--Subsection (a) of 
        section 3001 of division B of the American Recovery and 
        Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), as amended by 
        section 3(b) of the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (Public 
        Law 111-157), is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(19) Additional rules related to 2010 extension.--In the 
        case of an individual who, with regard to coverage described in 
        paragraph (10)(B), experiences a qualifying event related to a 
        termination of employment on or after June 1, 2010, and prior 
        to the date of the enactment of this paragraph--
                    ``(A) paragraph (2)(A)(ii)(I) shall be applied by 
                substituting `6 months' for `15 months'; and
                    ``(B) rules similar to those in paragraphs (4)(A) 
                and (7)(C) shall apply with respect to all continuation 
                coverage, including State continuation coverage 
                programs.''.
            (3) Effective date.--The amendment made by this subsection 
        shall take effect as if included in the provisions of section 
        3001 of division B of the American Recovery and Reinvestment 
        Act of 2009.
    (b) Required Minimum 10-Year Term, etc., for Grantor Retained 
Annuity Trusts.--
            (1) In general.--Subsection (b) of section 2702 of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
                as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and 
                by moving such subparagraphs (as so redesignated) 2 ems 
                to the right;
                    (B) by striking ``For purposes of'' and inserting 
                the following:
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of'';
                    (C) by striking ``paragraph (1) or (2)'' in 
                paragraph (1)(C) (as so redesignated) and inserting 
                ``subparagraph (A) or (B)''; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
            ``(2) Additional requirements with respect to grantor 
        retained annuities.--For purposes of subsection (a), in the 
        case of an interest described in paragraph (1)(A) (determined 
        without regard to this paragraph) which is retained by the 
        transferor, such interest shall be treated as described in such 
        paragraph only if--
                    ``(A) the right to receive the fixed amounts 
                referred to in such paragraph is for a term of not less 
                than 10 years,
                    ``(B) such fixed amounts, when determined on an 
                annual basis, do not decrease relative to any prior 
                year during the first 10 years of the term referred to 
                in subparagraph (A), and
                    ``(C) the remainder interest has a value greater 
                than zero determined as of the time of the transfer.''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection 
        shall apply to transfers made after December 31, 2010.
                                 <all>