[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3523 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3523

To provide for the temporary funding of the expansion of eligibility of 
  unemployment compensation to respond to the COVID-19 public health 
                   emergency, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2020

  Mr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the temporary funding of the expansion of eligibility of 
  unemployment compensation to respond to the COVID-19 public health 
                   emergency, 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 ``Coronavirus Unemployment Insurance 
Expansion Act''.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY FUNDING OF THE EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY OF 
              UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.

    (a) Federal-State Agreements.--Any State which desires to do so may 
enter into and participate in an agreement under this section with the 
Secretary of Labor (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary''). 
Any State which is a party to an agreement under this title may, upon 
providing 30 days' written notice to the Secretary, terminate such 
agreement.
    (b) Provisions of Agreement.--Any agreement under subsection (a) 
shall provide that the State agency of the State will make payments of 
regular compensation in cases where--
            (1) an individual's employer temporarily ceases operations 
        due to the COVID-19 emergency;
            (2) an individual is quarantined with the expectation of 
        returning to work and is not receiving pay due to the COVID-19 
        emergency; and
            (3) an individual must stop receiving pay in order to care 
        for family members or dependents due to the COVID-19 emergency.
    (c) Payments to States.--
            (1) Full reimbursement.--There shall be paid to each State 
        which has entered into an agreement under this section an 
        amount equal to 100 percent of--
                    (A) the total amount of regular compensation paid 
                to individuals by the State by reason of such 
                agreement; and
                    (B) any additional administrative expenses incurred 
                by the State by reason of such agreement (as determined 
                by the Secretary).
            (2) Terms of payments.--Sums payable to any State by reason 
        of such State's having an agreement under this section shall be 
        payable, either in advance or by way of reimbursement (as 
        determined by the Secretary), in such amounts as the Secretary 
        estimates the State will be entitled to receive under this 
        section for each calendar month, reduced or increased, as the 
        case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary finds that 
        his estimates for any prior calendar month were greater or less 
        than the amounts which should have been paid to the State. Such 
        estimates may be made on the basis of such statistical, 
        sampling, or other method as may be agreed upon by the 
        Secretary and the State agency of the State involved.
    (d) Funding.--
            (1) Compensation.--
                    (A) In general.--Funds in the Federal unemployment 
                account (as established by section 905(g)) of the 
                Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by section 
                904(a)) shall be used to make payments under subsection 
                (c)(1)(A).
                    (B) Transfer of funds.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
                transfer from the general fund of the Treasury (from 
                funds not otherwise appropriated) to the Federal 
                unemployment account such sums as the Secretary of 
                Labor estimates to be necessary to make payments 
                described in subparagraph (A). There are appropriated 
                from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal 
                year limitation, the sums referred to in the preceding 
                sentence and such sums shall not be required to be 
                repaid.
            (2) Administrative expenses.--
                    (A) In general.--Funds in the employment security 
                administration account (as established by section 
                901(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1105(a))) 
                of the Unemployment Trust Fund (as established by 
                section 904(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1104(a))) shall 
                be used to make payments to States and Indian Tribes 
                pursuant to subsection (c)(1)(B).
                    (B) Transfer of funds.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
                transfer from the general fund of the Treasury (from 
                funds not otherwise appropriated) to the employment 
                security administration account such sums as the 
                Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to make 
                payments described in subparagraph (A). There are 
                appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, 
                without fiscal year limitation, the sums referred to in 
                the preceding sentence and such sums shall not be 
                required to be repaid.
            (3) Certifications.--The Secretary shall from time to time 
        certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment to each 
        State the sums payable to such State under this section.
    (e) Applicability.--An agreement entered into under this section 
shall apply to weeks of unemployment--
            (1) beginning after the date on which such agreement is 
        entered into; and
            (2) ending on or before the earlier of--
                    (A) the date of the termination of the national 
                emergency declared by the President under the National 
                Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) with respect 
                to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19); or
                    (B) December 31, 2020.
    (f) Fraud and Overpayments.--The provisions of section 4005 of the 
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 122 Stat. 
2356) shall apply with respect to compensation paid under an agreement 
under this section to the same extent and in the same manner as in the 
case of emergency unemployment compensation under title IV of such Act.
    (g) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms ``regular 
compensation'', ``State'', ``State agency'', ``State law'', and 
``week'' have the respective meanings given such terms under section 
205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 
(26 U.S.C. 3304 note).

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY FLEXIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT LAWS.

    Notwithstanding any other law, if a State modifies its unemployment 
compensation law and policies (including with respect to work search, 
waiting week, good cause, and employer experience rating) on an 
emergency temporary basis as needed to respond to the spread of COVID-
19, such modifications shall be disregarded for the purposes of 
applying section 303 of the Social Security Act and section 3304 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to such State law.
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