HR 291 IHCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To provide for certain temporary additional unemployment benefits.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

January 8, 2009CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. MCDERMOTT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and MeansCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To provide for certain temporary additional unemployment benefits.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Unemployment Supplemental Assistance Act’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS.

(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 (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’). Any State which is a party to an agreement under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(b) Provisions of Agreement-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION- Any agreement under this section shall provide that the State agency of the State will make payments of regular compensation to individuals in amounts and to the extent that they would be determined if the State law of the State were applied, with respect to any week for which the individual is (disregarding this section) otherwise entitled under the State law to receive regular compensation, as if such State law had been modified in a manner such that the amount of regular compensation (including dependents’ allowances) payable for any week shall be equal to the amount determined under the State law (before the application of this paragraph) plus an additional $50.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) ALLOWABLE METHODS OF PAYMENT- Any additional compensation provided for in accordance with paragraph (1) shall be payable either--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) as an amount which is paid at the same time and in the same manner as any regular compensation otherwise payable for the week involved; orCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) at the option of the State, by payments which are made separately from, but on the same weekly basis as, any regular compensation otherwise payable.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(c) Nonreduction Rule- An agreement under this section shall not apply (or shall cease to apply) with respect to a State upon a determination by the Secretary that the method governing the computation of regular compensation under the State law of that State has been modified in a manner such that--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) the average weekly benefit amount of regular compensation which will be payable during the period of the agreement (determined disregarding any additional amounts attributable to the modification described in subsection (b)(1)) will be less thanCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) the average weekly benefit amount of regular compensation which would otherwise have been payable during such period under the State law, as in effect on December 31, 2008.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(d) Payments to States-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) IN GENERAL-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) 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--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(i) the total amount of additional compensation (as described in subsection (b)(1)) paid to individuals by the State pursuant to such agreement; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(ii) any additional administrative expenses incurred by the State by reason of such agreement (as determined by the Secretary).CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) 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.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) 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.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) APPROPRIATION- There are appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal year limitation, such sums as may be necessary for purposes of this subsection.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(e) Applicability-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) IN GENERAL- An agreement entered into under this section shall apply to weeks of unemployment--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) beginning after the date on which such agreement is entered into; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) ending before January 1, 2010.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) TRANSITION RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS REMAINING ENTITLED TO REGULAR COMPENSATION AS OF JANUARY 1, 2010- In the case of any individual who, as of the date specified in paragraph (1)(B), has not yet exhausted all rights to regular compensation under the State law of a State with respect to a benefit year that began before such date, additional compensation (as described in subsection (b)(1)) shall continue to be payable to such individual for any week beginning on or after such date for which the individual is otherwise eligible for regular compensation.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) TERMINATION- Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, no additional compensation (as described in subsection (b)(1)) shall be payable for any week beginning after June 30, 2010.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(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 additional compensation (as described in subsection (b)(1)) to the same extent and in the same manner as in the case of emergency unemployment compensation.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(g) Application to Other Unemployment Benefits-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) IN GENERAL- Each agreement under this section shall include provisions to provide that the purposes of the preceding provisions of this section shall be applied with respect to unemployment benefits described in subsection (h)(3) to the same extent and in the same manner as if those benefits were regular compensation.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) ELIGIBILITY AND TERMINATION RULES- Additional compensation (as described in subsection (b)(1))--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) shall not be payable, pursuant to this subsection, with respect to any unemployment benefits described in subsection (h)(3) for any week beginning on or after the date specified in subsection (e)(1)(B), except in the case of an individual who was eligible to receive additional compensation (as so described) in connection with any regular compensation or any unemployment benefits described in subsection (h)(3) for any period of unemployment ending before such date; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) shall in no event be payable for any week beginning after the date specified in subsection (e)(3).CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(h) Definitions- For purposes of this section--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) the terms ‘compensation’, ‘regulation compensation’, ‘benefit year’, ‘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);CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) the term ‘emergency unemployment compensation’ means emergency unemployment compensation under title IV of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 122 Stat. 2353); andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) any reference to unemployment benefits described in this paragraph shall be considered to refer to--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) extended compensation (as defined by section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970); andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) unemployment compensation (as defined by section 85(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) provided under any program administered by a State under an agreement with the Secretary.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink