[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3655 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3655

To provide enhanced disaster unemployment assistance to States affected 
  by Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Sandy of 2012, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 4, 2012

    Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Lieberman) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide enhanced disaster unemployment assistance to States affected 
  by Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Sandy of 2012, 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 ``Superstorm Sandy Unemployment Relief 
Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT PERIOD.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the 
case of an individual eligible to receive unemployment assistance under 
section 410(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5177(a)) as a result of a disaster 
declaration made by reason of Hurricane Sandy after October 20, 2012, 
the President shall make such assistance available for 39 weeks after 
the date of the disaster declaration.
    (b) References.--References in this Act to ``Hurricane Sandy'' 
shall be deemed to include Tropical Storm Sandy, occurring in the fall 
of 2012.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO STATES.

    (a) Payments to States.--
            (1) In general.--Payments shall be made to a State in an 
        amount equal to 100 percent of the amount of unemployment 
        compensation paid under the provisions of the State law to 
        affected individuals in each State in which a major disaster 
        was declared with respect to that State or any area within that 
        State under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Assistance Relief 
        and Emergency Assistance Act by reason of Hurricane Sandy in 
        2012.
            (2) Funding and transfer of funds.--
                    (A) Funding.--There are appropriated, out of moneys 
                in the Treasury not otherwise obligated, such sums as 
                may be necessary for purposes of carrying out this 
                section, and such sums shall not be required to be 
                repaid.
                    (B) Transfers.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
                of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer 
                from the General Fund of the Treasury to--
                            (i) the extended unemployment compensation 
                        account (as established by section 905 of the 
                        Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1105)) such sums 
                        as the Secretary of Labor estimates to be 
                        necessary to make payments to States for the 
                        unemployment compensation identified in 
                        paragraph (1); and
                            (ii) the employment security administration 
                        account (as established by section 901 of the 
                        Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1101)) such sums 
                        as the Secretary of Labor estimates to be 
                        necessary for purposes of assisting States in 
                        meeting the costs of administering this 
                        section.
            (3) Terms of payments.--Payments made to a State under this 
        section shall be made by way of advance or reimbursement.
            (4) Limitations on payments.--No payments shall be made to 
        a State under this section for unemployment compensation paid 
        by the State to an affected individual, if the State is 
        advanced or reimbursed for the costs of such unemployment 
        compensation under other provisions of Federal law.
    (b) Applicability.--Payments to a State under subsection (a) shall 
be available for unemployment compensation payable with respect to 
weeks of unemployment--
            (1) beginning on or after October 28, 2012; and
            (2) ending on or before July 23, 2013.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions shall 
apply:
            (1) State; state law.--The terms ``State'' and ``State 
        law'' have the meanings given those terms in section 205 of the 
        Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 
        (26 U.S.C. 3304 note).
            (2) Affected individual.--The term ``affected individual'' 
        means an individual eligible for unemployment compensation 
        under State law, whose unemployment is a direct result (as 
        described in 20 C.F.R. 625.5(c)) of the major disaster that was 
        declared with respect to that State or any area within that 
        State under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Assistance Relief 
        and Emergency Assistance Act by reason of Hurricane Sandy in 
        2012.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    The Secretary of Labor may prescribe any operating instructions or 
regulations necessary to carry out this Act.
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