[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 803 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 803

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

                             April 24, 2013

  Mr. Reid (for Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. 
 Blumenthal)) 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 2013''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF DISASTER UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT PERIOD.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding the maximum time period for 
assistance established under section 410(a) of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5177(a)), in 
the case of an individual who is eligible to receive unemployment 
assistance under that section 410(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 28, 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 section 625.5(c) of title 20, Code of Federal 
        Regulations) 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.
    (d) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) upon receiving a reimbursement or advance under this 
        section, a State should, if State law allows--
                    (A) reverse or waive any charges to employer 
                accounts related to unemployment compensation paid to 
                affected individuals for which the reimbursement or 
                advance is provided; or
                    (B) in the case of a State or local governmental 
                entity, non-profit organization, Indian tribe, or other 
                employer, which elected to reimburse the State for 
                unemployment compensation paid to affected individuals 
                in lieu of paying taxes based on charges to its 
                employer account, reimburse such employer for such 
                costs; and
            (2) in the case of an affected individual in a State who, 
        in relation to their initial week of unemployment during the 
        applicable period under subsection (b), received a waiting 
        period credit instead of an unemployment compensation payment--
                    (A) the State, if State law allows, should provide 
                for retroactive payment of unemployment compensation 
                for such week; and
                    (B) the State may receive reimbursement under this 
                section for such retroactive payment.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

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