[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4316 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4316

    To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave 
                   programs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2020

Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                               on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide Federal reimbursement of qualified State paid leave 
                   programs, 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 ``State Paid Leave for America Now 
(PLAN) Act''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT OF QUALIFIED STATE PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--There are appropriated to the Secretary of the 
Treasury such sums as necessary to make payments to States to reimburse 
eligible State expenditures in accordance with this section.
    (b) Eligible State Expenditure.--For purposes of this section, the 
term ``eligible State expenditure'' means any expenditure by a State--
            (1) made during the period beginning on January 27, 2020, 
        and ending on December 31, 2021, with respect to any qualified 
        paid leave program; and
            (2) consisting of any of the following:
                    (A) The payment of benefits by the State under such 
                program.
                    (B) Subject to subsection (d), the reimbursement of 
                benefits paid by a private employer or insurer--
                            (i) required to maintain such program under 
                        the law of the State; or
                            (ii) offering such a program on the basis 
                        of reimbursement of tax relief provided by the 
                        State.
                    (C) The administrative costs to the State of 
                operating a qualified paid leave program maintained by 
                the State or issuing reimbursements described in 
                subparagraph (B).
    (c) Qualified Paid Leave Program.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        ``qualified paid leave program'' means any program maintained 
        by a State, or by a private employer or insurer required to 
        maintain such program under the law of the State, that provides 
        paid leave benefits described in paragraph (2), but only to the 
        extent that such benefits are paid for circumstances related to 
        COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to paragraph (3)).
            (2) Applicable paid leave benefits.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph 
                (B), a paid leave benefit described in this paragraph 
                is a benefit which provides full or partial wage 
                replacement to employees on the basis of specifically 
                defined qualifying events defined under the law or 
                program policy of a State and which ends either when 
                the qualifying event is no longer applicable or a set 
                period of benefits is exhausted.
                    (B) Exceptions.--A paid leave benefit described in 
                this paragraph does not include--
                            (i) any form of accrued paid leave or any 
                        form of paid leave for which accrued paid leave 
                        is required to be substituted;
                            (ii) any form of compensation paid in 
                        remedy for a workplace injury, illness, or 
                        death or in exchange for forfeiting any right 
                        of action against the employer for a workplace 
                        injury, illness, or death; or
                            (iii) any paid leave with respect to which 
                        any taxpayer is eligible for a credit under 
                        division G of the Families First Coronavirus 
                        Response Act (Public Law 116-127).
            (3) Circumstances related to covid-19.--For purposes of 
        this section, a benefit is paid for circumstances related to 
        COVID-19 if, in order to be eligible for such benefit, the 
        recipient must be an individual who (as determined by the 
        qualified paid leave program under the law of the State)--
                    (A) has a current or presumptive diagnosis of 
                COVID-19 from a health care provider;
                    (B) is under quarantine (including self-imposed 
                quarantine or self-isolation) at the instruction of a 
                health care provider, employer, or a local, State, or 
                Federal official--
                            (i) in order to prevent the spread of 
                        COVID-19; or
                            (ii) due to underlying health conditions 
                        that put the individual at high risk if they 
                        contract COVID-19;
                    (C) is engaged in caregiving for an individual who 
                has a current or presumptive diagnosis of COVID-19 from 
                a health care provider or is under quarantine as 
                described in subparagraph (B); or
                    (D) meets such other circumstances related to 
                COVID-19 as the law of the State or the Secretary of 
                the Treasury (in consultation with the Secretary of 
                Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor) 
                may provide.
    (d) Restriction on Certain Reimbursements.--A State may not treat 
an expenditure described in subsection (b)(2) with respect to a 
qualified paid leave program as an eligible State expenditure--
            (1) with respect to benefits paid by the State under such 
        program as described in subparagraph (A) of such subsection, if 
        the State, during the period described in subsection (b)(1) or 
        during the 6-month period immediately following such period, 
        restricts eligibility or reduces program benefits (including 
        with respect to duration of leave, wage replacement rate, or 
        maximum benefits or coverage) related to such program; and
            (2) with respect to benefits paid by a private employer or 
        insurer as described in subparagraph (B) of such subsection, 
        unless the private employer or insurer receiving reimbursement 
        under such subsection provides assurances to the satisfaction 
        of the State that--
                    (A) the private employer or insurer has in effect 
                procedures--
                            (i) to determine whether a benefit is paid 
                        for circumstances related to COVID-19 that 
                        comply with the standard established in 
                        subsection (c)(3); and
                            (ii) to report such determinations to the 
                        State; and
                    (B)(i) during the period described in subsection 
                (b)(1) and during the 6-month period beginning on the 
                date on which the entity receives such reimbursement 
                from the State, the private employer or insurer will 
                not--
                            (I) raise any premium (if applicable) with 
                        respect to any plan for which the private 
                        employer or insurer submitted expenditures to 
                        the State for reimbursement, unless the premium 
                        increase is directly and proportionally tied to 
                        expanded or increased paid leave program 
                        benefits mandated by law or to increased 
                        utilization unrelated to circumstances related 
                        to COVID-19 (as determined pursuant to 
                        subsection (c)(3)); or
                            (II) reduce any benefit (including with 
                        respect to duration of leave, wage replacement 
                        rate, or maximum benefits or coverage) with 
                        respect to any such plan; and
                    (ii) in any case in which the private employer or 
                insurer violates clause (i), the private employer or 
                insurer agrees to repay the State any such 
                reimbursement received.
In any case in which a private employer or insurer repays any amount to 
a State pursuant to paragraph (2)(B)(ii), the State shall repay to the 
Secretary of the Treasury such portion of payments received by the 
State under subsection (a) as pertain to such amount.
    (e) Timing and Procedure for Payments.--
            (1) Certifications by states.--
                    (A) Initial estimate.--Not later than September 30, 
                2020, each State seeking a payment under this section 
                shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury an 
                initial estimate of the total amount of eligible State 
                expenditures the State expects to make with respect to 
                calendar years 2020 and 2021.
                    (B) Final report.--Not later than July 1, 2023, 
                each such State shall certify a final report of the 
                total amount of eligible State expenditures made with 
                respect to such calendar years. Such report shall also 
                include--
                            (i) the number of benefit claims that 
                        qualified for reimbursement, by eligibility 
                        category and type of leave;
                            (ii) the average duration of benefit 
                        receipt with respect to each such eligibility 
                        category and type of leave; and
                            (iii) any demographic information about 
                        recipients, disaggregated by eligibility 
                        category and type of leave, which is collected 
                        by the State or private employer or insurer 
                        during the application process.
                Not later than December 31, 2023, the Secretary of the 
                Treasury shall submit a report to Congress providing 
                aggregate data summarizing such final report. Such 
                final report shall not include any individually 
                identifiable information or any information which is 
                protected by State or Federal privacy law, and nothing 
                in this subparagraph shall be construed to require a 
                State or private employer or insurer to collect any 
                information from applicants beyond the extent 
                information described in clause (iii) is collected 
                during the application process.
            (2) Timing of payments.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall make payments under this section on a quarterly basis 
        during calendar years 2020 and 2021 beginning on December 31, 
        2020, based on an amount equal to 75 percent of the initial 
        estimates received pursuant to paragraph (1)(A).
            (3) Reconciliation.--Not later than September 30, 2023, the 
        Secretary of the Treasury shall reconcile with each State 
        amounts paid pursuant to paragraph (2) with the final report 
        submitted by the State pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), and shall 
        pay additional amounts to the State or collect overpayments as 
        necessary based on the amount specified in such final report.
    (f) Definition of State.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``State'' means any of the 50 States or the District of Columbia.

SEC. 3. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study to examine the potential impact on the economy had a 
national paid leave program been in effect during and after the COVID-
19 pandemic.
    (b) Report.--Not later than December 31, 2022, the Comptroller 
General shall submit a report to Congress on the results of the study 
under subsection (a).
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